FAQs - Victoria’s Big Build

Frequently asked questions

What is Suburban Rail Loop?

Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is a transport and housing project that will slash travel times, reduce congestion and ensure our city grows in the right places – and it will support the delivery of more homes and housing choice where people want to live – within walking distance of world-class public transport, services, jobs, schools, parks and cafes.

SRL will deliver a 90km orbital rail line, providing a direct link to Melbourne Airport and connecting people to key destinations across our city – major job centres, health services and education institutions.

Three transport super hubs at Clayton, Broadmeadows and Sunshine will connect regional passengers to SRL.

The new line will carry more than 430,000 passengers between Cheltenham and Melbourne Airport daily by the 2050s, taking more than 600,000 cars off the road each day.

Major construction of SRL East from Cheltenham to Box Hill is now underway, which will deliver 6 underground stations connected by 26km of twin tunnels. Trains will be taking passengers in 2035.

Why is SRL needed?

Melbourne will be a city of 9 million people by the 2050s – the size of London today. We need more transport and more homes in the right places – and SRL will deliver both.

For years, high population growth on Greater Melbourne's expanding urban fringe has been driving many households further from employment centres, leading to longer commutes, increased congestion and more crowded public transport.

This pattern of growth risks entrenching disadvantage, with inequitable access to good jobs, services, affordable housing, amenities and recreational opportunities.

SRL addresses these challenges and will slow the unsustainable growth of our urban fringe. Not only will SRL deliver important cross-suburb travel connections between major employment centres, hospitals, universities and retail, it will grow the number of jobs and housing options in the broader neighbourhoods around the stations. This will give more Victorians access to employment opportunities, affordable housing and services – all within a short walk from a station.

SRL will help re-shape Melbourne as a city of centres, improving access to jobs for 70% of Melbourne’s middle suburbs and for 72% of Melbourne’s outer corridor.

The areas around the stations will become 20-minute neighbourhoods, with new and upgraded recreational and open space, schools, shops and cafes, health facilities and transport options within easy walking distance.

Read more about how SRL will achieve this in the SRL Business and Investment Case Key Findings.

How will SRL provide connections to regional Victoria?

Passengers travelling into Melbourne from regional Victoria will no longer have to travel through the CBD to get to world-class education and health services, jobs and retail in the middle suburbs.

Regional rail services will be connected to SRL via interchanges at 3 transport super hubs at Clayton, Broadmeadows and Sunshine.

SRL East and North will provide a direct link to Melbourne Airport, as well as faster and easier travel to university campuses including Monash, Deakin and La Trobe, and major hospitals including Monash, Monash Children’s, Box Hill and the Austin.

How long will it take to finish SRL?

SRL is a multi-generational investment that will be delivered in stages.

SRL East between Cheltenham and Box Hill has been under construction since June 2022 and will be taking passengers in 2035. SRL East will deliver 6 new underground stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill, connected by 26km of underground twin tunnels.

SRL North from Box Hill to Melbourne Airport is in the early planning stages. It will include new stations at Doncaster, Heidelberg, Bundoora, Reservoir, Fawkner, Broadmeadows and connect to Melbourne Airport.

Melbourne Airport Rail from Melbourne Airport to Sunshine is being delivered by the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority (VIDA).

SRL West from Sunshine to Werribee is subject to further investigation, planning and development. It will build on the major road and rail projects already being delivered in the west, to deliver faster and more convenient travel, and improve access to jobs and services in the middle suburbs.

How many jobs will Suburban Rail Loop create?

SRL will deliver a long pipeline of construction activity and local jobs, helping to train the next generation of skilled Victorian workers. Up to 24,000 jobs will be supported across the Victorian economy during delivery of SRL from Cheltenham to Melbourne Airport.

SRL East from Cheltenham to Box Hill is creating up to 8000 direct local jobs during construction, with more than 3000 people already working on the project.

Beyond construction of the rail infrastructure, improving cross-suburb transport and increasing economic activity around the stations will drive business opportunities and clusters of new jobs – with the neighbourhoods around the SRL stations to become home to more than half a million jobs by the 2050s. This will enable more people to work closer to where they live and will give Victorians greater access to more diverse employment opportunities outside of the CBD.

How will Suburban Rail Loop cut travel time?

SRL will deliver shorter, faster and more reliable journeys for Victorians while slashing travel times across the state.

The SRL East Travel Time Estimates report shows people right across Melbourne and Victoria will have faster, easier journeys when SRL East opens in 2035.

There is already significant demand for orbital travel around Melbourne, with many people travelling to work and other destinations by car because there isn’t a fast rail option.

By shortening commutes and improving cross-suburb connectivity, more people will be encouraged to jump on public transport and leave their car at home. This will have a knock-on effect of slashing congestion with improved traffic flows on freeways and major arterial roads.

With SRL, more than 80% of Melburnians will experience more efficient travel in peak periods. SRL will connect every major train line from the Frankston line to the Werribee line, via Melbourne Airport. Trains will take 3 to 4 minutes between stations and will run every 6 minutes in the peak between Cheltenham and Box Hill, becoming more frequent as demand increases.

How much will Suburban Rail Loop cost and how will it be funded?

The SRL Business and Investment Case outlines the critical need to future-proof Melbourne for growth in the decades ahead by investing in orbital rail and increasing housing choice. The Business and Investment Case shows the benefits outweigh the costs, with a Benefit Cost Ratio range of 1.1 to 1.7.

SRL is a project of national significance and will be funded through a range of funding streams, including Victorian Government contributions, Federal Government contributions and a mix of value capture opportunities.

SRL East is expected to cost between $30 to $34.5 billion and the new line will be running in 2035.

How will Suburban Rail Loop deliver more housing?

As Australia’s largest housing project, SRL will not only deliver faster, more reliable travel for Victorians, it will help deliver thousands more homes where they’re needed – within walking distance of jobs, services, and world-class public transport.

SRL East between Cheltenham and Box Hill will help deliver an additional 70,000 in the areas around the 6 news stations by the 2040s.

As well as the new turn-up-and-go rail line and 6 new stations, SRL East will deliver new and improved open and green spaces, more trees, walking and cycling paths, retail, dining and vibrant station plazas.

We have been actively working with local communities, councils and organisations since 2019 to plan for the future of these areas to ensure they remain vibrant places to live, work and visit.

Structure plans and planning scheme amendments for SRL East are expected to be finalised in 2026, streamlining planning approvals and paving the way for thousands more homes and jobs.

More high-quality homes near transport, jobs, and services means more affordable housing choices for young people in the suburbs they grew up in, more options for every stage of life, and less outer suburban sprawl that puts pressure on roads and services.

Are stakeholders and the community being consulted in the planning of SRL?

We’re working closely with local communities, councils and stakeholders every step of the way throughout the design and delivery of SRL East, with many thousands of responses received during structure planning consultation, hundreds of conversations at community events, and hundreds of detailed meetings and workshops.

Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA) has established Precinct Reference Groups (PRGs) for consultation and information sharing and to provide an important local perspective as we build SRL East. PRG members are people from the community and groups like councils, community groups, or trader groups. A Community Reference Group (CRG) has also been established for Heatherton.

Planning for the future of the areas around the SRL East stations is well underway and we have been talking to the community and local stakeholders since 2019. This feedback has underpinned the development of draft structure plans and planning scheme amendments.

Structure plans and planning scheme amendments for SRL East are expected to be finalised in 2026, streamlining planning approvals and paving the way for thousands more homes and jobs.

What kind of tunnel boring machines are being used?

The 8 TBMs needed for SRL East have been supplied by 2 of the world’s leading manufacturers of TBMs - Herrenknecht and the China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (CREG).

The 4 Herrenknecht TBMs – which are 7.29m in diameter and 100m to 150m long - will tunnel the southern section between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley.

Two types of TBMs will be used to match ground conditions in the southern section of SRL East – 2 slurry machines, and 2 convertible machines that will be converted from slurry to earth pressure balance (EPB) machines between Heatherton and Cheltenham.

The 4 CREG TBMs will launch from Burwood, tunnelling south to Glen Waverley, with the other 2 heading north towards Box Hill. The TBMs used for the northern section of the tunnels will be earth pressure balance machines, to suit local ground conditions and minimise impacts on the surface.

All 8 SRL TBMs will be powered by 100% renewable electricity.

Will properties above the tunnel alignment be impacted by noise and vibration?

The tunnel alignment for Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East has been determined by extensive analysis of ground conditions and technical studies that formed part of the Environment Effects Statement process for the project.

Building SRL East as 6 underground stations and 26km of twin tunnels has significantly minimised surface impacts to land and property in Melbourne’s middle suburbs.

The vast majority of properties that SRL tunnels will pass beneath will not be impacted. On average, the SRL East tunnels will be approximately 26m deep – that’s about 6 storeys below ground.

What is Specific Control Overlay 14 and Specific Control Overlay 15?

SRL has sent letters to landowners and tenants where the Project proposes to apply Specific Controls Overlay 14 (SCO14) and/or Specific Controls Overlay 15 (SCO15) to their property, as part of the draft Planning Scheme Amendment contained in the SRL East Environment Effects Statement (EES).

Receiving one of these letters does not necessarily mean your property will be acquired at surface level, simply that the tunnels could travel underneath, or in the vicinity of, your property.

SCO14 is a planning control that authorises the design, construction and operation of the 26km underground tunnels, stations and other infrastructure for the Project. SCO 15 is a planning control to protect the underground infrastructure from development that, if not designed appropriately, could damage the Project infrastructure, such as developments with deep foundations or multi-level basements.

Using overlays as planning controls to facilitate the delivery of, and protection of, large public infrastructure projects is common in Victoria. This approach has been used on projects such as the North East Link, West Gate Tunnel and Metro Tunnel.

Where can I find out more information about Special Control Overlay 14 and Special Control Overlay 15?

More information about Specific Control Overlay 14 (SCO14) and Specific Control Overlay 15 (SCO15) is available:

On the Environment Effects Statement (EES) interactive map. The map enables community members to search by property address in the top right-hand corner
For discussion of the rationale behind SCO14 and SCO15 3, from page 80 to page 82 of the Draft Planning Scheme Amendment (Attachment C)
For the detailed provisions of SCO14 and SCO15, from page 133 to page 157 of the Draft Planning Scheme Amendment (Attachment C).

What type of trains will service SRL?

SRL will be a standalone network with its own new dedicated fleet of automated, high-tech trains providing a turn-up-and-go service — without being constrained by the requirements of Melbourne’s existing train network.

The 4 carriage trains will be designed to provide easy access, passenger comfort, low noise, a sense of security, high quality passenger information systems and comfortable and ergonomically designed seating.

Carriages will have dedicated spaces for wheelchairs and passengers with special needs, as well as flexible use spaces for prams, assistance animals and other uses.

With SRL North connecting to Melbourne Airport, the SRL train interior will be configured for flexibility and ease of movement, and with capacity for future fit-out of luggage storage.

YesNoIt was easy to understandIt answered my questionI couldn’t find what I neededPage took too long to loadSomething went wrongIt was hard to understandTell us how to make this page better

Sign up for updates

Stay in the loop with our eNews.