Works are full speed ahead on all six Suburban Rail Loop East stations

The delivery of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East project is seeing major progress with construction now underway on all six station sites, in preparation for tunnelling works to commence in 2026. 

Approximately 1,000 talented and hardworking Victorians are currently working to deliver the project and have already clocked over five million hours of work on site. 

Works will commence this week on the first tunnel access structure in Heatherton while crews will begin works on a temporary bridge in Box Hill to help keep traffic moving while construction is carried out underneath Whitehorse Road. 

Early works are also underway in Cheltenham, with crews relocating utilities and other services in Glen Waverley, Clayton and Monash University in preparation for underground station construction. 

“We promised Victorians we’d get on with building the Suburban Rail Loop, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. 

“By 2026, we’ll have four tunnel boring machines in the ground, twin tunnels being built, major contracts awarded and major construction underway at every one of the six stations,” Premier Jacinta Allan said. 

The first major tunnelling contract for SRL East was awarded late last year to a consortium comprised of CPB Contractors, Ghella and ACCIONA Construction. The $3.6 billion Tunnels South contract will deliver the 16-kilometre twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley. You can read more about the contract award here. 

Detailed survey works under the first tunnelling package will continue throughout 2024. 

Meanwhile, the contract that will deliver the tunnels between Glen Waverley and Box Hill is expected to be awarded this year. Two consortia have also been shortlisted to build the trains and signalling system as well as to operate the rail network. 

SRL East – Cheltenham to Box Hill is estimated to create 8,000 jobs during its construction phase. About 10 per cent of all work hours will be undertaken by cadets, apprentices and trainees. 

A recruitment drive is being carried out for skilled Victorian workers who are interested in building SRL East as the project gears up for major construction.

Once completed, SRL East will slash travel times, relieve congestion and connect people to new housing, employment and health and education services. 

The draft Suburban Rail Loop Precinct Visions was released in December 2023 and it has received more than 2,000 responses from communities who have their say on how their neighbourhoods can benefit from the projects. 

SRL East is jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian Governments, each contributing $2.2 billion and $11.8 billion respectively. 

Trains are expected to start running on SRL East by 2035. 

“This project will take almost an hour off a student’s commute from Frankston to Australia’s largest University. 

“Anyone threatening to board up the tunnel and give up on the project halfway through construction is saying these jobs don’t matter, these travel time savings don’t matter, and these communities don’t matter,” Minister for Suburban Rail Loop Danny Pearson said. 

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

The overall Suburban Rail Loop is a game-changing, multi-generational development that will transform Victoria’s transport system. It will deliver a 90-kilometre orbital rail line that will link every major train service from the Frankston Line to the Werribee Line via Melbourne Airport, relieving pressure on roads and other transport networks while connecting people to key destinations across the city. 

Suburban Rail Loop is being built in four sections: 

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

Three transport superhubs will be built at Clayton, Broadmeadows and Sunshine to connect regional services, enabling passengers outside Melbourne to travel to employment, hospitals and universities in the suburbs without passing through the CBD. 

Source: Premier of Victoria – Media Centre; Victoria’s Big Build – Suburban Rail Loop (1, 2, 3)