Metro Tunnel’s promise to commuters pushed out to 2026

The Metro Tunnel will not open for regular commuter services this year, as construction and testing delays on the $15 billion train line push out a full timetable until early 2026.

Plans for a so-called “soft opening” in November this year mean the nine-kilometre underground tunnel and five new inner-city stations would initially only be used for limited off-peak services.

The tunnel, announced in 2015 by the then Labor premier Daniel Andrews, will augment the City Loop and relieve congestion on train travel through the city. Sunbury and Dandenong trains, which currently go through the City Loop, will be diverted to the Metro Tunnel, stopping at five stations – Anzac (opposite the Shrine of Remembrance), Town Hall, State Library, Parkville and Arden (in North Melbourne).

The Allan government has made a firm commitment to open the rail tunnel this year, with posters plastered at train stations promising it will carry passengers in 2025.

But construction is still under way on the two CBD stations – Town Hall, which will connect underground to Flinders Street station, and State Library, linking to Melbourne Central – which has delayed the handover of those stations for testing and trial operations.

Three sources close to the project, but not permitted to speak publicly about it, said the project was now working towards opening to passengers in November, but with trains only running outside the commuter rush hour.

Trains on the Sunbury and Cranbourne/Pakenham lines – which will eventually use the Metro Tunnel – will continue to use the City Loop during peak hour, the sources said.

Operations will increase up to a full timetable early next year, giving Metro Trains and the state Transport Department time to iron out unexpected problems, increase workforce hours needed to operate the new trains and new stations, and allow customers to familiarise themselves with the new tunnel before using it for peak-hour commutes.

The slow ramp-up will also delay full passenger loads at the new stations during rush hour, meaning the stations can open even if they are not yet fully fitted out or operational.

Town Hall opening to passengers without all of its entrances completed is one likely scenario, according to one well-placed industry source familiar with the project’s planning.

The Age revealed last year that the Allan government offered the tunnel’s Cross Yarra Partnership construction consortium “additional payments” worth up to $888 million to ensure the tunnel opened in 2025.

In an indication of how construction has continued to run into delays, in June last year the builders were offered $143.5 million if they achieved “Day One Train Operations” – the first day passengers could use the tunnel – by this Sunday, June 29, 2025.

Instead, construction crews were still working on the main entrance to Town Hall station on Friday afternoon, and there is no indication when it will be completed.

The project had previously been working towards a “day one” milestone of September 17, 2024, but had also built in a contingency of up to 12 months to allow for unexpected delays during testing of new technology, which has never before been used in Victoria.

That includes high-capacity signalling, which will take over from drivers and guide trains through the tunnel between Kensington and South Yarra, and automatic platform screen doors at the five new stations.

It is not clear whether a staggered opening, rather than opening for full operations, will entitle the Cross Yarra Partnership to the large financial incentives the Allan government offered to meet its political commitment to have passengers in the tunnel before the end of 2025.

A spokesperson for the state government’s Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority did not answer questions about whether the tunnel would open with a regular timetabled service this year or a staggered start.

“Work to develop the timetable for Metro Tunnel services is under way, and the full details will be announced before the tunnel opens,” the spokesperson said.

“The Metro Tunnel will be the biggest transformation of Melbourne’s rail network in 40 years, and all five stations are on track to open later this year.”

Victoria signed a contract with CYP to build the tunnel for $11 billion in 2017, but the consortium – comprising Lendlease, John Holland, Bouygues Construction and John Laing – downed tools in 2019 and demanded up to $3 billion extra to cover cost blow-outs.

The project has completed about 3680 hours of testing through the tunnel, with trains travelling more than 165,000 kilometres through the tunnel during testing and trial operations.

The new train line includes new stations at Parkville, the Arden precinct in North Melbourne, and Kings Domain (Anzac Station). The project will create a new cross-town line from Sunbury to Dandenong and create more capacity for other lines in the City Loop.

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