Significant milestones reached on VIC Suburban Rail Loop East project

Victoria’s largest transport infrastructure project – the Suburban Rail Loop – has reached new major milestones prior to major construction on the first of three sections of the massive rail loop. 

The Suburban Rail Loop is going to be delivered in three sections, namely: 

• SRL East – Cheltenham to Box Hill 
• SRL North – Box Hill to Melbourne Airport 
• SRL West – Melbourne Airport to Werribee 

Geotechnical investigations are already underway on SRL East, which marks the beginning of a big year for the Suburban Rail Loop development. 

In addition to geotechnical investigations, initial and early works are also set to commence this year. These works will include site preparation for the launch of tunnel boring machines, relocating and protecting underground services as well as ground improvements and road upgrades. 

According to a statement, “It’s going to be a big year” for SRL East and the broader Suburban Rail Loop development. 

“Expect more exciting details about the SRL stations and the areas around them, as well as the people and technology making SRL a reality. 

“Precinct Reference Group meetings will continue to provide local input into the planning, development and delivery of SRL East. There will also be plenty of opportunities for communities to get involved in shaping their neighbourhoods into even greater places to live, work and visit,” the statement said. 

Initial and early works on SRL East are anticipated to create up to 800 direct local jobs. 

Another significant milestone for SRL East is the beginning of the pre-qualification process for the Tunnelling Packages. The Suburban Rail Loop Authority is inviting interested parties to submit their pre-qualification responses prior to the start of the procurement process for tunnelling works. 

The advance tender notice stated: “Interested parties must be registered and meet the pre-qualification requirements in order to participate in the procurement process. Once pre-qualified, access will be provided to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest (Invitation for EOI) documentation via an electronic data room. In addition, access will also be provided to other program-wide related information via an electronic data library. The electronic data room and electronic data library will be operational in the first quarter of 2022.” 

Submission of pre-qualification responses will end on 25th March 2022. For more information on the pre-qualification process, you can visit its dedicated page on the Buying for Victoria – Tenders website here. 

Suburban Rail Loop map (source: Victoria's Big Build)

SRL East will provide a vital link to the growing health, education, retail and employment precincts in Melbourne’s east and south east regions – between Cheltenham and Box Hill. 

This section of the Suburban Rail Loop will deliver: 

• Twin 26-kilometre rail tunnels 
• Six new underground stations, including four with interchanges to existing stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Glen Waverly and Box Hill, as well as new stations at Monash and Burwood 
• A transport super hub at Clayton for regional passengers 
• A train stabling facility and power supply substation at Heatherton 
• An emergency support facility at Mount Waverley, including an intervention and ventilation facility and backup control centre 
• A power supply substation at Burwood 
• A dedicated fleet of new high-tech trains 

In November last year, the Victorian Government invested an additional $9.3 billion to deliver SRL East as well as the announcement of Laing O’Rourke as the preferred contractor to undertake initial and early works. You can read more about the announcements here. 

Source: Victoria’s Big Build – Suburban Rail Loop (1, 2, 3); Buying for Victoria – Tenders; Australia New Zealand Infrastructure Pipeline (1, 2)