Peak hour train trips on new Suburban Rail Loop set to be twice as quick as using the car

The train trip on the first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop is set to be at least twice as quick as taking the car between the same commuter hot spots.

Train passengers using the first section of the multibillion dollar Suburban Rail Loop have been promised 22 minute trips from Cheltenham to Box Hill.

The 26km journey would take at least twice as long to drive during peak hour, and is based on trains taking an average of 3-4 minutes between six new underground stations.

The modelling for the journey times is included in a long-awaited investment case for the 90km mega-project, likely to cost tens of billions of dollars for just the first stage.

Public transport advocates say the impressive journey times mean the government should consider an extra stop being inserted between Cheltenham and Clayton to cater for a nearby industrial precinct and potential urban renewal.

The Andrews Government has said planning won’t preclude a station from being built near to a stabling site in Heatherton in future, but there is currently no economic justification.

Construction work continues ahead of schedule at the Arden Metro Station site in North Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Set to be the most expensive rail tunnel ever built in Victoria, the plan for a Suburban Rail Loop is to build a 90km orbital line that would connect almost all radial train lines in Melbourne.

Stage one early works have started, despite no pricetag or cost benefit study being released, and will run 26km with new underground stations at Southland in Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash University, Glen Waverley, Burwood near to Deakin University, and Box Hill.
Box Hill is the most challenging engineering feat due to high rises around the station box, which is designed to be 350 metres long.

Trains will take between three and four minutes between stations, with the journey from Cheltenham to Monash University done in under 10 minutes.

Suburban Loop Minister Jacinta Allan said Melbourne’s population will be the size of London’s today by the middle of this century meaning the loop is “more than a rail line”.

An artist's concept of a Suburban Rail Loop train at Cheltenham. Source: Suburban Rail Loop Authority

“Suburban Rail Loop will reshape how Melbourne grows – the delivery of fast and convenient travel connections between key employment, education and health precincts in our suburbs will attract thousands of businesses, jobs and services in areas around the stations, reducing the pressure on the Melbourne CBD.”

Public Transport Users’ Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the travel times sounded good but the key would be getting interchanges right so that commuters can seamlessly connect to buses, trams or trains nearby.

Stations will be between 17 and 23 metres below ground, with planners trying to make the trip to the surface as quick as possible.

“They really do need to deliver on that so people have a seamless experience,” he said.

“You don’t want to have to exit and then walk down the road in the rain and then down into another station.”

Mr Bowen said it looked like a “missed opportunity” in Heatherton where there was a chance for industrial precincts and “potential urban renewal” to hook into a public transport line.