{"id":318082,"date":"2025-11-17T15:09:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T05:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=318082"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:07:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T10:07:57","slug":"metro-tunnel-opening-set-more-funds-for-suburban-rail-loop-in-bumper-day-for-big-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=318082","title":{"rendered":"Metro Tunnel opening set, more funds for Suburban Rail Loop in bumper day for Big Build"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Melbourne\u2019s 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\u2019s Big Build projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2013 a week earlier than its expected December opening day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Albanese delivered an even bigger surprise when he confirmed his government would give more funding to Allan\u2019s signature project, SRL East<\/a>, an underground rail line between Cheltenham and Box Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> for early SRL works<\/a> and property acquisitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVictoria needs that certainty going forward. We see that in order to have investment, you need certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

But Albanese delivered an even bigger surprise when he confirmed his government would give more funding to\u00a0Allan\u2019s signature project, SRL East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":152297,"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":[35,1168,10073,47,8160],"tags":[9031,993,8],"class_list":["post-318082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-metro-tunnel","category-myki","category-rail-news","category-suburban-rail-loop","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t