Summer Start
From early December as part of the Summer Start, existing Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury line services will run through the City Loop to the current timetable.
There is no change in service for people on those lines unless they choose to switch to Metro Tunnel services at an interchange station, such as Caulfield, Malvern, Footscray, Flinders Street or Melbourne Central.
The additional services that will go through the Metro Tunnel will run between West Footscray (Sunbury Line) to Westall (Cranbourne and Pakenham Line) 7 days a week.
- Monday to Friday – services every 20 minutes from 10.00am until 3:00pm between Westall and West Footscray
- Weekends – services every 20 minutes from 10.00am until 7.00pm between Westall and West Footscray, every 40 minutes from East Pakenham, and every 60 minutes from Sunbury.
For passengers travelling on all other lines nothing changes – except they have the option to change to a Metro Tunnel service at Flinders Street or Melbourne Central.
Big Switch
As part of the Big Switch, Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury Line services will come out of the City Loop and run exclusively through the Metro Tunnel from 1 February 2026.
There will also be major changes to the public transport timetable, including:
- over 1000 new weekly services added on the Sunbury Line
- over 100 new weekly services added to the Cranbourne and Pakenham timetable
This increase in services means passengers from West Footscray to Dandenong will have a train at least every 10 minutes all day, every day of the week. Peak services will be on average every 3 to 4 minutes for passengers between Watergardens and Dandenong.