Metro Tunnel builders blame design faults for project headaches, delays

Dozens of design faults that have plagued Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel project have been revealed in a court case launched by the companies building the $15 billion underground rail line.

The Cross Yarra Partnership consortium blames its engineering firms for bungles that have disrupted construction, inflated costs and required rectification work.

Two of the Metro Tunnel’s five new stations – State Library and Town Hall – are still not completed, missing an already extended April deadline and holding up testing and trial operations.

The project is now under intense pressure to fulfil a promise by the Allan government that the nine-kilometre underground train line and all five stations will open to passengers by the end of 2025.

The Age revealed last month that the project was working towards a “soft opening” in November, only operating limited, off-peak services before commencing a full timetable in early 2026.

Construction companies John Holland, Bouygues and Lendlease – together the Cross Yarra Partnership – have launched action in the Supreme Court of Victoria against engineering firms Arcadis, Arup and WSP Australia, in a case that shines light on some of the setbacks the project has suffered since construction began in 2017.

Cross Yarra Partnership hired the three firms to help design the tunnel and stations in 2017 through a contract worth up to $205 million.

But the builders now allege they encountered dozens of design defects while “constructing, or attempting to construct” the Metro Tunnel, which forced them to halt and resequence construction and carry out remedial works.

A writ filed in April lists 68 defects spread between all five new stations, including:

• Fire escapes at Anzac station not meeting fire safety standards, requiring additional piling and construction works to accommodate a revised design.
• A basement floor at Parkville station being built to the wrong height and requiring additional slabs to be laid.
• A failure to account for a strutting system and a temporary inner shaft at State Library station, which forced workers to reschedule construction and undertake additional works.
• A passenger underpass beneath Royal Parade at Parkville station clashing with a bank of high-voltage cables, leading to stand-down costs while it was redesigned.
• Arden station’s ground floor slab needing strengthening works before other structures could be built on top.

Cross Yarra Partnership also claims the engineering firms designed beams, columns, walls and slabs at Town Hall and State Library stations with an excessive amount of steel reinforcement.

This meant the project incurred extra costs “procuring and installing the additional reinforcement over and above what was necessary”, the writ says.

Cross Yarra Partnership’s court filing does not quantify the financial damage due to the design defects they are seeking to recoup. However, the builders want the engineers to repay $28 million in fees, which they claim they were not entitled to.

Victoria originally signed an $11 billion contract with Cross Yarra Partnership to build the tunnel and stations in 2017, but the group downed tools in 2019 and demanded up to $3 billion extra to finish the job.

The contract was amended again last year in light of ballooning construction costs, pushing Victoria’s bill to $13.5 billion, and the total project to more than $15 billion, including contributions from Cross Yarra Partnership.

The Metro Tunnel was originally scheduled to open 2026, but then-premier Daniel Andrews brought forward the opening date to 2025 when the government signed tunnelling contracts in 2018.

Premier Jacinta Allan reaffirmed late last month that all five stations would open to passengers by the end of 2025, but would not comment on whether the tunnel would operate to a full timetable or be a “soft opening” with limited services.

“There’s the operationalisation of the tunnel, and then there’s a timetable,” she said. “We’re working on that timetable right now.”

The tunnel from Kensington to South Yarra will create a new cross-city train line from Sunbury to Dandenong, and free up capacity on the City Loop.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority said the court case would not affect delivery of the Metro Tunnel.

“The project is currently testing the infrastructure and advanced technology that has never been used on the Victorian rail network, and there are no significant design flaws,” the spokesperson said.

Cross Yarra Partnership, Arcadis and Arup declined to comment. WSP Australia did not respond to a request for comment.

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