{"id":243050,"date":"2025-06-28T09:25:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T23:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=243050"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:18:19","slug":"metro-tunnels-promise-to-commuters-pushed-out-to-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=243050","title":{"rendered":"Metro Tunnel\u2019s promise to commuters pushed out to 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Metro Tunnel will not open for regular commuter services this year, as construction and testing delays on the $15 billion train line push out a full timetable until early 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans for a so-called \u201csoft opening\u201d in November this year mean the nine-kilometre underground tunnel and five new inner-city stations would initially only be used for limited off-peak services.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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State Library and Town Hall stations are not yet completed.  CREDIT: ALEX COPPEL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The tunnel, announced in 2015 by the then Labor premier Daniel Andrews, will augment the City Loop and relieve congestion on train travel through the city. Sunbury and Dandenong trains, which currently go through the City Loop, will be diverted to the Metro Tunnel, stopping at five stations \u2013 Anzac (opposite the Shrine of Remembrance), Town Hall, State Library, Parkville and Arden (in North Melbourne).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Allan government has made a firm commitment to open the rail tunnel this year, with posters plastered at train stations promising it will carry passengers in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But construction is still under way on the two CBD stations \u2013 Town Hall, which will connect underground to Flinders Street station, and State Library, linking to Melbourne Central \u2013 which has delayed the handover of those stations for testing and trial operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three sources close to the project, but not permitted to speak publicly about it, said the project was now working towards opening to passengers in November, but with trains only running outside the commuter rush hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trains on the Sunbury and Cranbourne\/Pakenham lines \u2013 which will eventually use the Metro Tunnel \u2013 will continue to use the City Loop during peak hour, the sources said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Construction workers at the entrance to Town Hall station on Friday.CREDIT: ALEX COPPEL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Operations will increase up to a full timetable early next year, giving Metro Trains and the state Transport Department time to iron out unexpected problems, increase workforce hours needed to operate the new trains and new stations, and allow customers to familiarise themselves with the new tunnel before using it for peak-hour commutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The slow ramp-up will also delay full passenger loads at the new stations during rush hour, meaning the stations can open even if they are not yet fully fitted out or operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Town Hall opening to passengers without all of its entrances completed is one likely scenario, according to one well-placed industry source familiar with the project\u2019s planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Age <\/em>revealed last year that the Allan government offered the tunnel\u2019s Cross Yarra Partnership construction consortium \u201cadditional payments\u201d worth up to $888 million to ensure the tunnel opened in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an indication of how construction has continued to run into delays, in June last year the builders were offered $143.5 million if they achieved \u201cDay One Train Operations\u201d \u2013 the first day passengers could use the tunnel \u2013 by this Sunday, June 29, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Age<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The slow ramp-up will also delay full passenger loads at the new stations during rush hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":197774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1168,47],"tags":[11500,993,8],"class_list":["post-243050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-metro-tunnel","category-rail-news","tag-cfmeu","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=243050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243053,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243050\/revisions\/243053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/197774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=243050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=243050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=243050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}