Allan government downplays fears about water leaks in the Metro Tunnel

The state government is downplaying reports of leaking water in the $15.5bn Metro Tunnel, as it reaffirms its commitment to having the project open by the end of this year.

The Allan government has reassured Victorians the Metro Tunnel is safe and is on track to open this year following reports of water leaks in the $15.5bn project.

The 9km tunnel, which is up to 40m underground and runs beneath the Yarra River, connects South Yarra to Kensington and includes five new underground stations.

Reports of water leaking in the new structure have emerged over the past few months, but project sources say the design allows for some seepage and does not affect the structure of the tunnel.

The government has described the issue as “groundwater management”.

“Groundwater management is common practice on underground infrastructure projects and is still used on CityLink,” they said.

“There is no impact on operations or cost. The Metro Tunnel will open later this year — one year ahead of schedule.”

The opening of the tunnel was initially scheduled to be 2026 when a contract was inked last decade.

Jacinta Allan with Metro Tunnel worker Ryan Martin. Picture: David Crosling

When the contract was amended in 2020 due to cost overruns worth $2.74bn – half of which were paid for by taxpayers – the open date was revised forward to 2025.

Builders were supposed to finish construction of the five stations by April 30 to meet that deadline, but have yet to handover Town Hall and State Library structures to rail operators, raising questions about the timing of the opening.

As revealed by the Herald Sun earlier this year, operators have held secret talks about a staged opening of the project from late this year.

The new Parkville station. Picture: Tony Gough

This could potentially mean bypassing city stations and running limited services in the first few months of operations, to avoid peak hour congestion while operators monitoring for teething problems.

This means that the full timetable benefits won’t be realised until next year.

Reports of water issues were raised on Thursday morning by 3AW Mornings host Tom Elliott, who heard RMIT expert Dr Eric Keys explain that tunnel projects “allow for some seepage” but that a gush of water would be a problem for drainage systems within the structure.

Dr Keys said motorists sometimes have to turn on windscreen wipers while driving through CityLink tunnels, and that project designers had systems in place to minimise leaks.