Victoria Completes Five Landmark Underground Stations on $12.6 Billion Melbourne Metro Tunnel Ahead of Passenger Rollout

Transforming Victoria's Rail Network with 9-Kilometre Twin City Tunnels

MELBOURNE, Victoria — In a historic achievement for public mass transit and regional infrastructure, the Victorian Government and Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) have officially completed architectural and structural fit-outs across all five brand-new underground stations on the landmark $12.6 billion Melbourne Metro Tunnel megaproject. Carving 9 kilometres of twin rail tunnels beneath the heart of Melbourne, the transformative project untangles the world-famous City Loop bottlenecks, delivering dedicated continuous pathways for passenger trains across Southeast Australia’s most populous capital.

Delivered by the Cross Yarra Partnership (CYP) consortium—comprising Lendlease, John Holland, Bouygues Construction, and Capella Capital—the megaproject creates an unhindered end-to-end rail corridor connecting the Sunbury line in the northwest directly with the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the southeast. Once fully integrated, the tunnel will unlock capacity for more than 500,000 additional passengers per week, drastically easing overcrowding across Melbourne’s regional commuter rail grid.

Architectural Mastery Across Five Landmark Underground Stations

The completion marks the delivery of five world-class underground transit hubs designed by renowned architectural practices Hassell, Weston Williamson + Partners, and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners: Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall, and Anzac.

At Parkville Station, situated directly beneath Grattan Street, deep subterranean concourses provide direct, grade-separated pedestrian rail access to the world-renowned Parkville Biomedical Precinct, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the University of Melbourne for the first time in history. Meanwhile, State Library and Town Hall stations feature cavernous, cathedral-like arched vaults bored deep beneath Swanston Street, integrating underground passenger concourses with existing platforms at Melbourne Central and Flinders Street stations via climate-controlled pedestrian walkways.

High-Capacity Metro Trains and Cutting-Edge Digital Signalling Integration

The Metro Tunnel is engineered with next-generation transit technology, operating a bespoke fleet of 65 High-Capacity Metro Trains (HCMT) built to carry up to 1,800 passengers per seven-car trainset. Featuring walk-through carriages, dynamic passenger information displays, real-time climate management, and extensive accessibility zones, the trains offer a whisper-quiet, modern transit experience.

Operating along the alignment is advanced High-Capacity Signalling (Bombardier/Alstom CITYFLO 650 CBTC), enabling automated train operation (ATO) and tighter train headways of under two minutes during morning and afternoon peak periods. All five stations feature full-height, glass Platform Screen Doors (PSDs)—a first for Melbourne's rail network—engineered to synchronize seamlessly with train doors, preventing track incursions while optimizing climate control and underground acoustic comfort.

A Green, Decarbonized Transit Backbone for Victoria's Future Growth

Transport ministers and civic planners emphasized that the Metro Tunnel functions as the fundamental architectural cornerstone for Victoria's wider Big Build transport program, laying the groundwork for future initiatives such as the Melbourne Airport Rail and the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL).

By shifting tens of thousands of daily commuters out of private automobiles and off congested arterial freeways like the Tullamarine and Monash Freeways, the electrified rail tunnel avoids thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Supported by expansive new public plazas, bicycle hubs, and tree-lined pedestrian boulevards at station portals, the Metro Tunnel provides Melbourne with a resilient, sustainable transit backbone engineered to serve the city for more than a century.