Suburban Rail Loop begins creating jobs for Victorians

The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) – Victoria’s biggest infrastructure investment to date – is creating thousands of jobs, starting with about 800 jobs during the initial early works phase for SRL East. 

This pipeline of jobs will include opportunities for students to help them kick start their careers on this massive transport infrastructure project. 

SRL East alone is projected to create up to 8,000 direct jobs during its construction while SRL North is expected to generate an additional 5,000 direct jobs. Overall, SRL East and SRL North will support approximately 24,000 jobs across the State. 

Other stages of the project – SRL Airport and SRL West – are also expected to create thousands more jobs during their delivery. 

About 10 per cent of the workforce for SRL will account for trainees, apprentices and cadets. 

A recruitment drive is going to be launched next month to attract people for jobs across the project. The work opportunities will have a diverse range of fields, including engineering and technical specialists, trades as well as roles in sustainability, health, safety and urban planning. 

In a Victorian first, an innovative school-based SRL East traineeship program is going to be delivered in partnership with Laing O’Rourke, Head Start and Holmesglen TAFE to help strengthen the career prospects of girls studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects. 

During this program, Year 11 and 12 students will be given a hands on experience on the SRL East project two days a week over the next two years. This traineeship program aims to support more women to pursue careers in construction. 

Over the coming months, Expressions of Interest for the 2024 Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA) Graduate Program will open. 

“The Suburban Rail Loop will change the way people move around Melbourne and is a project our city and state needs. 

“We’re recruiting hundreds of Victorian workers, trainees and graduates to help deliver this vital project,” Premier Daniel Andrews said. 

The Suburban Rail Loop development will deliver a 90-kilometre rail line that will link every major train service from the Frankston Line to the Werribee Line via Melbourne Airport. 

The project is going to be delivered in four stages, namely: 

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

Two of the four stages – SRL East and SRL Airport – are already under construction. 

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

Once completed, SRL will provide Victorians with better connectivity to jobs, retail, education, health services and each other. 

With three transport super hubs at Clayton, Broadmeadows and Sunshine connecting to regional services, passengers outside Melbourne can get to work, access world-class hospitals and universities in the suburbs without travelling through the CBD. 

“Suburban Rail Loop won’t just transform our public transport system, slash travel times and ease congestion – it will create thousands of well-paid and secure jobs for decades to come. 

“SRL is a generational investment not just in infrastructure, but in how our city grows, revolutionising our public transport system and ensuring we’re ready to support a population the size of London within the next 30 years,” Suburban Rail Loop Minister Jacinta Allan said. 

Recently, Expressions of Interest for the design, construction and 15-year operation and maintenance of all tunnel systems and infrastructure for SRL East has been announced to open this year. You can read more about it here. 

Source: Premier of Victoria – Media Centre; Infrastructure Magazine; Inside Construction; Victoria’s Big Build – Suburban Rail Loop (1, 2)