Inside Metro Tunnel’s wild ride from first plans to opening day
When the first passenger trains enter the Metro Tunnel on Sunday, it will mark the beginning of a new era for Melbourne’s rail network. Here we look back at how the $15.5bn mega project took shape.
As the first passenger trains enter the Metro Tunnel on Sunday it signals the beginning of a new era for Melbourne’s rail network.
But it also brings to an end a wild ride for the mega project, which began its journey early this century as a worthy idea, before morphing into a political battleground and, eventually, a new rail line.
This is how the $15.5bn project took shape.
City Loop relief valve
In the early 2000s the idea of an underground rail route under the CBD that would ease pressure on the City Loop gained traction. In 2008, as part of the Brumby government’s review of Melbourne’s east-west travel needs, Sir Rod Eddington proposed a 17km tunnel from Caulfield to Footscray, built in two stages. The Eddington report also included a new East West Link road tunnel for motorists to bypass the CBD. Those two projects would dominate infrastructure politics for the following decade. The Brumby government began planning for both, but was dumped from office in 2010.
Show me the money
With the departure of John Brumby and Labor, in 2012 the Coalition under Liberal premier Ted Baillieu put $50m into planning a 9km link between South Yarra and Kensington and five new stations. However, funding was a major roadblock and turned into a political battle. In 2013 the Gillard government, which was hurtling towards electoral defeat, offered $3bn to the rail project. Tony Abbott, who was leading the federal Coalition, said he would redirect that to an East West Link road project if he was prime minister. Abbott won the election late in 2013, six months after Baillieu was knifed by his party room and replaced by Denis Napthine.
Melbourne rail link
In 2014, Napthine and his government decided the plan to rip up parts of the CBD would be a disaster, and shelved the Metro Tunnel’s Swanston St alignment. Instead, the premier unveiled a project called the Melbourne Rail Link, which was to connect South Yarra to Southern Cross Station, via Domain and Fishermans Bend. It did not go through the university and hospital precinct in Parkville. The Coalition also proposed an airport rail link from Southern Cross to Tullamarine, and inked contacts for the East West Link. Victorian Labor, under leader Daniel Andrews, promised to stick to the original Metro plan, and sensationally promised to dump the EWL.
Back to the metro
After winning the 2014 state election, Andrews delivers on his promises to scrap the EWL and plan the Metro Tunnel — despite the impact on the CBD and Swanston St. He later reversed his position on a shallow tunnel and backed a more expensive deeper option, to limit construction chaos. A business case locked in the 9km route from South Yarra to Kensington and five new stations, and early works began in 2017 as Andrews promised to build the line without federal money, effectively staking his first term on getting the project built.
An engineering marvel
Tunnelling under the Yarra River, and the City Loop, was always going to be high-risk. Experts from around the globe were recruited, and the team used innovative techniques such as pumping liquid into the water table to stop infrastructure sinking. Tunnel boring machines were 120m long and dug into a mixture of basalt and slurry while laying tunnel segments behind them. Later, other challenges emerged, such as how to minimise electromagnetic interference from trains at the university and hospital precinct in Parkville.
Show me the money — again
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the construction industry was plagued by skills shortages, supply chain woes, and shutdowns during record Melbourne lockdowns. Expensive delays added to already mounting bills, that would see the original $10.9 billion budget blown out of the water. In 2021, a legal settlement was struck between builders, CPB and John Holland, and the government. The two parties split the bill, which had reached $2.74bn. To soften the blow, the tunnel’s opening date was brought forward from 2026 to 2025. The first state election following the pandemic, in 2022, saw Andrews re-elected with a thumping majority.
Testing times
Tunnel boring had wrapped up in 2021, but construction of two CBD stations — now known as Town Hall and State Library — was a major headache. They were built almost 40 metres below ground using a type of “keyhole” construction method. A shaft was dug to transport machinery below the surface, to then build the 18 metre-wide platforms and sweeping “trinolcular” caverns created by roadheaders digging three overlapping tunnels. Experts overseas advised the project to finish one station as early as possible to start testing systems, which could be replicated once delays stations were ready. Arden became the “prototype” that allowed the project to stay on track.
Show me the money — once more
On the cusp of the 2024 AFL Grand Final public holiday, the Allan government revealed it was forking out more taxpayer cash for the Metro Tunnel. It would cost about $840m, Victorians assured the project builders would be contributing a “comparable” amount. No details have been provided by the private companies building the tunnel, however, meaning the precise cost remains secret. Taxpayers have now kicked in $13.5bn for what is thought to be a $15.5bn total project cost.
Putting on a show
In late 2025, it was revealed that first trains through the Metro Tunnel would run from November 30. It would be a soft launch with limited off peak services, to iron out bugs in the new system. The real launch, which delivers services every three or four minutes during peak hour, would be on February 1 — which the Allan Government spins as its “Big Switch”. To celebrate the first passenger trains on November 30, roving entertainers including jugglers and ballerinas will put on a show and free snacks will be dished out to passengers. Free weekend travel has also been booked in, across all modes of public transport, for the whole of summer.
Timeline of a mega project
2008: A cross-city rail project is proposed from Caulfield to Footscray to ease stress on the City Loop
2010: Baillieu government elected
2012: State budget puts $50m into planning a Melbourne Metro
2013: The Gillard government pledges $3bn for the Metro project, but the Abbott government later withdraws the funding in favour of an East West Link road. Ted Baillieu replaced by Denis Napthine.
2014: Napthine ditches a central CBD Metro, and introduces a plan for a Melbourne Rail Link between South Yarra and Southern Cross Station.
2015: New Labor government led by Daniel Andrews resurrects South Yarra to Kensington alignment, dumps the EWL.
2016: Business case for Metro released, first contracts awarded
2017: City Square closed for construction to begin
2018: Andrews government re-elected
2019: Tunnel boring machines launched at Arden
2020: Contract variation to settle $2.74bn in blowouts, with costs split between builders (CPB and John Holland) and Victorian taxpayers
2021: Tunnelling completed
2022: Track installation begins, Andrews government re-elected
2024: Arden station complete, testing begins. Delays hit construction of CBD stations. Fresh blowout costs taxpayers $837m with a “comparable” amount paid by builders
2025: Trial operations and final testing occurs. Off-peak trains set to run from November 30
Originally published as Inside Metro Tunnel’s wild ride from first plans to opening day
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