The Metro Tunnel is Melbourne’s biggest rail project since the City Loop was built in the 1970s. It involves building twin rail tunnels and five underground stations from North Melbourne through to the Domain precinct, south of the CBD.

New underground walkways will connect Town Hall Station through to Flinders Street Station and State Library Station to Melbourne Central Station, allowing seamless connections for commuters between City Loop and Metro Tunnel services.

The Metro Tunnel will also provide access to the University of Melbourne and health facilities such as the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Royal Women’s Hospital and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

The project’s benefits will be far-reaching – by taking three of the busiest train lines (Cranbourne/Pakenham and Sunbury lines) through a new tunnel under the city, it will free up space in the City Loop to run more trains in and out of the suburbs.

New, modern technology will allow trains to run every two to three minutes, beginning the transformation into a ‘turn up and go’ rail system for Melbourne.

A number of Australian and global companies are building the Metro Tunnel, with construction split across several work packages including:

• John Holland KBR: early works to relocate services and prepare the construction sites
• Cross Yarra Partnership consortium involving Lendlease Engineering, John Holland, Bouygues Construction and Capella Capital: Public Private Oartnership to build the new tunnel and stations
• Beon Energy Solutions: construction power
• CPB Contractors and Bombardier Transportation: rail systems including signalling and systems integration work
• Yarra Trams: tram infrastructure works
• TBC: rail infrastructure works including the tunnel portals and realignment of existing rail lines.

Construction on the Metro Tunnel started in 2016 with the whole project to be complete by 2026.