Melbourne’s new underground metro tunnel will open to the public in early December of this year.

The metro will include five new stations: Anzac, Arden, Parkville, State Library and Town Hall. It will connect the Sunbury line in the north-west with the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east and will provide a faster, more direct route into the city and improve access to the eastern suburbs. The Melbourne metro tunnel will ease the congestion in the city and increase train capacity. The project is one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Melbourne’s history.

Ideas for the tunnel started in 2008, but the project faced repeated delays, and it was only in 2015, with the Andrews government, that funding was secured.

Here is a timeline that will look into what has happened over the last decade, leading up to the opening.

Project Initiation and Early Developments

2015

• In February, Dan Andrews, the former Victorian Labour Premier, fast-tracked the funding of $40 million to establish the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority (MMRA). The purpose of the project was established.

2016

• The Metro Tunnel Business Case was released, which looked at the overall cost and eventual plans of the metro.
• The Victorian Government clashed with Turnbull’s federal government over funding for a South Yarra metro station, which required an additional $600 million to proceed.

2017

• On 15 January 2017, work officially began on the initial construction, which led to areas of Melbourne’s CBD being closed.
• Early construction had started to drive underground rats into the streets of Melbourne. Though the rats were only temporary, pest control was needed.

2018

• The Victorian government released the final designs for the five metro tunnels, which will serve as architectural landmarks.

Tunnelling and major construction

2019

• Tunnelling had started in April, June and July of 2019. This led to multiple rail services in Melbourne’s east such as being shut down.

2020

• In early 2020, serious advances were being made to Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel. The plan hit a major milestone as the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) completed the first tunnel from Arden to Kensington.
• By May, there were four tunnelling machines all being used underground simultaneously, which was a first for the project and a sign of progression.
• The metro tunnel project hit multi-billion-dollar cost blowouts, mainly at State Library station, which caused further delays and additional disputes with contractors.

2021

• The funding went up by $2.7 billion and reached a total of $13.7 billion. By 2021, the tunnelling had been completed, and the focus was on the delivery. High-Capacity Metro Trains were first introduced. They were designed to have a larger capacity and go faster than other metros.

Final preparations

2024

• News had broken that the electromagnetic waves caused by the metro were interfering with MRI machines and hospitals in Parkville, such as the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Though the tunnel was 40 metres underground, it was still extremely electromagnetic and led to MRI images being distorted, and plans were made to slow the speed of the trains.

2025

• The metro was set to partially open in December for the public to use, with full operations commencing in February.
• It was announced that the Victoria government had allowed social media influencers to be the first inside the metro when it was opening, as they would be used to promote and publicise the tunnel.
• The final cost of the project had risen from the original $11 billion to $15.5 billion.
• Due to the complications that may arise, Jacinta Allen has announced a two-month free travel initiative on weekends to locals as a thank you for their commitment.