Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel will open a week earlier than expected, and the first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop has been granted extra federal funding, after a bumper day of announcements for Victoria’s Big Build projects.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan toured the new State Library station on Sunday and revealed the Metro Tunnel would carry passengers from Sunday, November 30 – a week earlier than its expected December opening day.
But Albanese delivered an even bigger surprise when he confirmed his government would give more funding to Allan’s signature project, SRL East, an underground rail line between Cheltenham and Box Hill.
Funding the mega-project has been a political hot potato, and Victoria has spent years lobbying the Commonwealth to fund one-third of the total $34.5 billion price tag.
Albanese was coy about the exact figure, saying the additional funding would be revealed in the May budget. The federal government has previously committed $2.2 billion for early SRL works and property acquisitions.
“This is what we need in this great city of Melbourne in order to make sure that we allow people to get around this city easier as well, so that we can have affordable housing and increased housing density around rail stations,” Albanese said.
“Victoria needs that certainty going forward. We see that in order to have investment, you need certainty.”
The Age
0928 Dandenong to West Footscray and 0928 Sunbury to Westall are both earmarked to be the first Metro Tunnel trains on 30 November 2025.
If timings is correct, 0928 to West Footscray should be the first revenue passenger train to enter the Metro Tunnel.