Sports fans heading to AFL finals and Melbourne Storm games between this Friday 29 August and Saturday 6 September are encouraged to plan ahead, with buses replacing trains on the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Gippsland lines as major construction of Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East powers ahead.
At the site of the future SRL station in Clayton, workers are underpinning the existing elevated rail line before the SRL East tunnels are built. This short disruption will ensure Metro and V/Line trains can keep operating while SRL East is built.
From 9pm on Friday 29 August to 5am on Saturday 6 September, buses will replace trains on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines between Parliament, Caulfield and Westall stations. Coaches will replace Gippsland line V/Line trains for part or all of the journey from Friday 29 August to Friday 5 September.
With SRL, Clayton will become a transport super hub, with trains travelling in 4 directions – connecting the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Gippsland lines to SRL and opening up access to jobs, healthcare and education in Melbourne’s east and southeast.
Ringwood locals will be able to get to the SRL station at Clayton near Monash Medical Centre in 33 minutes with a change at Box Hill, saving 31 minutes on their public transport journey.
As Australia’s largest housing project, SRL will deliver more homes, jobs and services in the neighbourhoods around the stations, with a long term vision for an additional 70,000 homes around the 6 SRL East stations.
The neighbourhood around the new station in Clayton will be a thriving community for people to live, work, study and play – with more diverse housing options, local services and jobs closer to where people want to live – all a short distance from world class public transport.
Two new public spaces are now open in Clayton for the community to enjoy while we build SRL East, featuring basketball hoops, children’s play equipment, a skating area and new trees and seating.
Construction of SRL East is creating up to 8000 jobs, with more than 3000 people already working on the project, tunnelling to start next year and trains taking passengers in 2035.