Victoria Officially Delivers $15 Billion Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project with Five Landmark Underground Stations and High-Capacity Fleet

The Biggest Rail Infrastructure Transformation in Victoria’s History

MELBOURNE, Australia — Reshaping the passenger transit landscape of Australia's fastest-growing metropolis, the Victorian Government has formally commissioned and integrated the landmark $15.3 billion Melbourne Metro Tunnel project into the metropolitan rail network. Designed to eliminate the chronic capacity bottlenecks of the aging City Loop, the megaproject establishes a dedicated twin nine-kilometre subterranean rail corridor running directly beneath Melbourne's Central Business District, creating a seamless high-capacity transit spine from Sunbury in the northwest to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the southeast.

By routing the Sunbury, Cranbourne, and Pakenham lines out of the City Loop and into the dedicated underground tunnel, the project untangles tracks across the entire network, unlocking capacity for an additional 500,000 passenger journeys each week and releasing congested track pathways for the Craigieburn, Upfield, and Frankston lines.

Five World-Class Subterranean Stations Anchoring Vital Urban Precincts

The project is anchored by five monumental, architecturally bespoke underground stations engineered to international mass transit benchmarks: Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall, and Anzac. Constructed with soaring subterranean concourses, integrated natural daylight shafts, full ADA accessibility, and expansive weather-protected bike hubs, each station acts as a powerful anchor for transit-oriented civic growth.

Crucially, Parkville Station delivers direct subterranean rail connectivity to the world-renowned Melbourne Biomedical Precinct and the University of Melbourne, eliminating long surface tram transfers for over 40,000 daily researchers, doctors, and students. Meanwhile, direct underground pedestrian interchanges link State Library Station to Melbourne Central and Town Hall Station to Flinders Street Station, enabling seamless transfers without touching surface street crossings.

High-Capacity Metro Trains and Cutting-Edge Signalling Technology

Passenger operations through the Metro Tunnel are powered by Victoria's custom fleet of 65 High-Capacity Metro Trains (HCMTs), manufactured in Victoria by the Evolution Rail consortium. Measuring seven articulated carriages in length and capable of carrying up to 1,380 passengers (with modular expansion potential to ten carriages carrying nearly 2,000 commuters), the trains feature walkthrough cabins, dynamic digital route maps, and enhanced accessibility bays.

The tunnel features Australia’s most advanced High-Capacity Signalling (HCS) system, pairing automated Communications-Based Train Control with full-height platform screen doors installed across all five underground stations. The platform screen doors synchronize with train arrivals, preventing platform falls, optimizing climate control in the stations, and allowing trains to safely run at ultra-tight headways during morning and evening rush hours.

Slashing Commute Times and Laying the Groundwork for Future Expansion

Transport economists and civic leaders underscored that the Metro Tunnel delivers profound economic and social returns across Greater Melbourne. Commuters traveling from outer suburbs save up to 25 minutes on a round-trip commute, with direct rail links eliminating road congestion across major highway corridors such as the West Gate and Monash Freeways.

Furthermore, the completed Metro Tunnel provides the essential technical foundation for Victoria’s forthcoming long-range infrastructure megaprojects, including the Melbourne Airport Rail link and the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL), securing sustainable, zero-emission mass transit for the metropolitan region for the next century.