Station to station: first look at the Metro Tunnel set to revolutionise Melbourne travel

. AU edition

The view from the escalators at Parkville station
The view from the escalators at Parkville station. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/The Guardian

Exclusive: As the long-awaited rail line prepares to launch, here’s how it will transform the city and what it means for commuters

For nearly a decade, deep beneath Melbourne, tunnel boring machines and construction crews have been quietly reshaping the city, through the creation of the Metro Tunnel.

Three new underground stations have already been handed over to Metro Trains, with two more to follow within months. By year’s end, a new 9km twin rail tunnel – billed as the biggest overhaul of Melbourne’s transport network since the City Loop opened in the 1980s – will open to the public.

The scale of its impact is clear: the entire city’s transport timetable – trains, trams, buses – is currently being rewritten to make way.

“When you look at these sorts of projects, not only within Australia but globally, they really do make a big difference to how people get around the city,” says Ben Ryan, the Metro Tunnel’s executive project director.

“Sydney Metro … has been a real gamechanger for Sydney and this will be the same.

“When you see the spaces here, the difference that will make to people’s commutes and how it modernises our rail network, it will make a really big difference to Melbourne and Victoria.”

Above ground, the Victorian government is desperate for its debut. The project may be a year ahead of schedule but it has had no shortage of controversies, including its cost ballooning to nearly $14bn – a heavy burden on a budget facing almost $200bn in forecast debt by mid-2028.

Now in its third term and sliding in the polls, Labor’s pinning its hopes on the tunnel delivering political capital before the November 2026 state election.

So what exactly is the Metro Tunnel? And how will it change your commute?

A long history, long platforms

The Metro Tunnel will connect the Sunbury line in the west to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east via five new underground city stations, forming a single 97km train line.

It will deliver more frequent services from Sunbury to Cranbourne and Pakenham and free up City Loop capacity, returning Frankston trains to the loop.

First proposed in 2008 as a 17km rail link from Footscray to Caulfield, the project was repeatedly shelved, revived and redesigned in the years since, amid political and funding fights.

The acting transport infrastructure minister, Sonya Kilkenny, said: “The Liberals called the Metro Tunnel a ‘hoax’ and the Liberals in Canberra ripped billions out of this city shaping project – but we are getting on delivering it and it will open this year, one year ahead of schedule.”

Originally budgeted at $11bn and due in 2024, early works began in 2015, with tunnelling starting in 2019. Construction was then halted when contractors sought an extra $3bn for cost overruns. The finish date was pushed to 2026, then brought forward to 2025.

Above ground, preparations have long been under way – dozens of level crossings were removed along the two lines to allow faster trains into the tunnel and High Capacity Metro Trains, with end-to-end walkways, began rolling out in 2021.

The trains can carry about 1,400 passengers across seven carriages but the Metro Tunnel platforms have been built to accommodate 10 in the future. Like Sydney’s Metro, the tunnel will use screen doors for faster, safer boarding

The tunnel also features high-capacity signalling, which Ryan describes as a “adaptive cruise control”, letting trains automatically keep pace and safely run closer together at speeds up to 80km/h.

This will support a “turn-up-and-go” service, with passengers able to board a train without checking a timetable – though the government has not detailed what that will actually look like yet. (In Sydney’s Metro, trains run every four minutes during peaks).

Test trains have already clocked more than 165,000km. Doors have opened and closed thousands of times. Emergency drills – from fire evacuations to total shutdowns – have been under way in preparation for the tunnel’s opening.

What are the new stations?

The stations and their surrounds are the work of Australian architects Hassell, alongside London-based firms Weston Williamson + Partners and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Each is designed to maximise natural light, with Melbourne-made light fittings that nod to the city’s past, Melbourne Metro logos scattered throughout and exposed concrete and engineering.

The stations also include design cues to help passengers navigate. Vertical ceiling baffles are pink on one side, white on the other, to mark exits and entries. Bright yellow drum lights draw the eye toward platforms.

Embedded into the platforms is Tracks, by artist Maree Clarke: 30 oversized animal footprints – including the koala, sugar glider, emu and wombat – laser-cut in coloured granite, in a nod to the five Kulin nation clans of central Victoria.

While the five stations share a visual language, each reflects the character of its local area.

Anzac

On St Kilda Road – the world’s busiest tram corridor – Anzac station is opposite the Shrine of Remembrance. Its green columns and timber canopies reflect the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens.

According to Ryan, it’s the only station in the world that has been built with a direct train to tram connection, which will relieve pressure on the tram network and cut trips to the city from about 15–20 minutes to three.

He says the construction was “pretty challenging logistically”, with major road closures and heritage work, including dismantling and rebuilding the South African Soldiers War Memorial and preserving the Windsor Oak planted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Inside, bright artworks by Raafat Ishak reflect surrounding landmarks. Toward the Shrine exit, the colours become more subdued, with artist Fiona Hall’s work immortalising two second world war carrier pigeons – known by their signs DD.43.T.139 and DD.43.Q.879 – in bronze.

Both were awarded the Dickin medal for bravery – the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross – for delivering life-saving messages under fire. They are flanked by panels depicting native plant species linked to military service.

Parkville

Parkville sits 25 metres below the city’s medical and research precinct, connecting 73,000 workers and 55,000 students to heavy rail for the first time. Its blue design nods to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne.

It has four entrances: the Grattan Street main entrance with its 55-metre-long canopy; another near the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; one at Royal Melbourne Hospital; and one on Royal Parade.

Beneath Grattan Street is a “street beneath the street” – a retail-lined, traffic-free walkway open to all, featuring a ceramic collage titled Vernal Glade by Patricia Piccinini.

Arden

Arden’s brick arches reference North Melbourne’s industrial heritage. Artist Abdul Abdullah’s Come Together – two aluminium hands reaching for each other – stretches across the facade, set against mosaic tiles showing local history.

The surrounding area was initially meant to become a brand new medical precinct but the plan was scrapped after it was discovered electromagnetic interference from the tunnel was affecting existing hospitals in Parkville. Instead, the government plans to use to land to create 20,000 new homes, including 10% “affordable housing”.

Town Hall and State Library

These two stations are yet to be handed over to Metro Trains and are by far the most complex. State Library sits 36 metres below ground, Town Hall 27 metres – twice the depth of Anzac or Arden.

“The reason for that is the Metro Tunnel goes underneath the City Loop tunnels for the train that’s already running around the city,” Ryan says. “Imagine an eight-storey building – we’ve built that underground and we’ve done that largely while the city’s continued operating above.”

The stations are huge – spanning city blocks – and will allow underground transfers between Town Hall and Flinders Street, and State Library and Melbourne Central, without tapping on or off.

Due to their locations, archaeological digs during construction uncovered thousands of artefacts, including 1,000 human teeth from an 1898 dental surgery at 11 Swanston Street and cattle bone dice and jet earrings dropped through floorboards at 13 Swanston Street, once home to hotels from the 1850s to 1920s.

Guardian Australia understands the stations are expected to be handed over to Metro Trains within three months, though neither Ryan nor the government would confirm this.

“They’re in good shape. We’re nearly finished and once they’re finished we’ll test and get ready to open the entire Metro Tunnel,” Ryan says.

The $13.48bn question is: when? The Age recently reported a “soft opening” was planned for November with limited off-peak services – a claim the government has disputed.

“Everyone’s very interested in when it’s going to open,” Ryan says.

“We’re going to open this year, in 2025. We can’t say exactly when yet, but we’re on track to open and everyone’s working really hard.”