Metro rail tunnel CBD sites set to stay closed for longer so trains can run sooner

A deal between contractors and the Andrews Government will see busy CBD landmarks pay a big price so the Metro Tunnel can be fast-tracked.

Busy CBD landmarks will remain closed until at least 2024 in a bid to get the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel opened to passengers early.

A deal thrashed out between contractors and the Andrews government would see Metro builders given access to Federation Square until 2025, while City Square would remain a construction site until 2024.

Some sites had been set to reopen next year while work was going on beneath them, but the construction schedule has been flipped to enable better access to work areas underground.

The trade-off means priority will now be given to getting rail and station works finished first, with the above-ground elements of the project done last so that trains can run sooner — potentially by 2024.

A deal on the construction schedule shift came when the builder, which includes Lendlease, John Holland, and Bouygues Construction, agreed to split $2.7bn in cost overruns with the Andrews government. Other sites affected include St Kilda Road, Grattan Street, and Franklin and A’Beckett streets — all to reopen in 2024.

A Metro Tunnel construction site Picture: Alex Coppel.

Federation Square would be impacted by the deal.

Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the government wanted to deliver the project as soon as possible “to transform our rail network, untangling the City Loop so more trains can run more often across Melbourne”.

“2020 was a massive year for the Metro Tunnel Project, with huge progress across more than 125 work sites, despite the challenges of the pandemic,” she said. “2021 is promising to be even bigger, with tunnelling in the final stages and work underway to build five new state-of-the-art stations inside the massive spaces we’ve excavated deep under Melbourne.”

The Metro rail project, which links South Yarra to Kensington via 9km twin tunnels with five new underground stations, will enable more services to run on key lines as well as provide an alternative to the City Loop.

City Square, pictured here before constuction began, will be closed off until 2024 . Picture: Andy Brownbill

Excavations at the City Square in preparation of the Metro Rail Tunnel.

It began in 2017 and was initially slated to finish in 2026, but Premier Daniel Andrews brought that forward to 2025.

If it was to open in 2024, it is possible the rail line would be operational at about the same time as the West Gate Tunnel, which was supposed to open in 2022 but has been dogged by problems including toxic soil on site.

Transurban notified shareholders earlier this month that it was now unlikely to be finished until 2024.

On Metro, excavation has finished at new State Library and Town Hall stations, where walls, columns and roof beams are now being built.

As revealed by the Herald Sun, tunnelling is almost 75 per cent complete with it set to finish towards the middle of this year.

Arden Station’s concourse level is now in place, while at Parkville work on the station’s entrances have begun.