How long is the Melbourne Metro Tunnel going to be?
Railways in Melbourne
In February 2015, the State Government established the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority to oversee planning for new twin 9-kilometre rail tunnels through the central city between South Kensington station and South Yarra. The new Metro Tunnel will have five new underground stations and connect the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines with the Sunbury line, creating a new route through the CBD as an alternative to the City Loop. New underground stations will be created at Arden, Parkville, Domain and two new CBD stations, State Library and Town Hall. Enabling works were underway by 2016 and major construction work on the tunnel and stations began in 2017.The project has an estimated cost of $11 billion and is scheduled to be complete by 2025.
Transportation in Oregon
The Robertson Tunnel is a tunnel through the west hills of Portland, Oregon, U.S. for the TriMet public transit MAX Light Rail system. The tunnel is 3.1 miles (5.0 km) long and consists of twin 21 foot (6.4 m) diameter tunnels. There is one station within the tunnel at Washington Park, the third deepest such station in the world. The tunnel has won several worldwide engineering and environmental awards. It was placed into service September 12, 1998.
Metro Tunnel
In 2008, British transport planner Sir Rod Eddington handed down the findings of a report into Melbourne's east-west transport needs, following a commission by the Brumby Government. The Eddington Report recommended two key projects in the city centre: an East West Link road tunnel providing an alternative cross-town route to the West Gate Bridge, and a rail tunnel from Footscray to Caulfield via the CBD. According to Eddington, the tunnel would increase the capacity of the central rail network by removing some trains from the City Loop, allowing future extensions to the suburban lines. In December that year, the project was incorporated into the government's Victorian Transport Plan, to be built in two stages: the first from Footscray to St Kilda Road, and the second along the rest of the route.
Metro Tunnel
The primary stated aim of the project is to increase capacity within the inner core of the metropolitan network, as well as improving reliability and efficiency. It aims to accomplish this by creating a single, end-to-end metropolitan line between Sunshine in the west and Dandenong in the south-east, linking the existing Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines and providing them with a dedicated city centre route. Because this re-routing removes services from two City Loop tunnels, more capacity will theoretically be available for the Werribee, Williamstown, Craigieburn, Upfield, Frankston and Sandringham lines. According to official project estimates, the result is a total capacity increase of 39,000 passengers in the city centre for each peak period.
Metro Tunnel
Melbourne's original development at a time when railway technology began to emerge as a feasible and efficient mode of transit led to a symbiotic relationship between the CBD and the rail network which grew to surround it. An almost purely radial system of lines, developed largely before 1930, linked the growing suburbs to the economic hub of the city centre, producing a system which supported a daily flow of passengers into and out of the city to work. Despite the increasingly car-oriented developments of the mid-20th century, the suburban rail lines in Melbourne continued to discourage any decentralisation of employment, leaving the city unusually dependent on its central core when compared to cities of similar size globally.
Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne uses the myki ticketing system exclusively. Myki is a time and zone based ticketing system, with validity periods ranging from two hours to one year, and two zones covering the Melbourne metropolitan area.
Melbourne Central Shopping Centre
Melbourne Central is a large shopping centre, office, and public transport hub in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, which was refurbished in 2005 by architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall; the Melbourne Central railway station (a part of the City Loop underground railway and formerly called Museum); and the high office tower with its distinctive black colour and two communications masts. The centre features a gross leasable area of . It is owned by GPT Group.
Robert Risson
Risson was a defender of trams at a time when they were falling out of favour across Australia. He is often regarded as a major factor in the retention of Melbourne's tram network, which now has a route length of , making it the largest tram network in the world. Academic Graeme Turnbull argues that "the view has been frequently expressed that the retention of the Melbourne tramway system during this period, is due almost solely to Sir Robert's strong management." While academic John Legge wrote in 2006 that "Melbourne's tram network in the years after the war found that Risson still knew how to fight. Premiers as tough as Henry Bolte backed away from such a contest." Further, Victorian Transport Minister Alan Brown called Risson "the man who deserves full credit for saving out city's trams" in 1994, and columnist Bruce Guthrie described Risson as "the man who saved our trams."
Clem Jones Tunnel
The tunnel was originally proposed by Labor Lord Mayor Jim Soorley in 2001, and was incorporated into the Liberal Party candidate Campbell Newman's five tunnel vision, called TransApex, in 2002. In December 2007, Brisbane City Council decided to name the tunnel the Clem Jones Tunnel in honour of the former lord mayor. On 16 July 2008, the Government of Queensland announced that the tunnel "heralds Queensland’s newest motorway - the M7".
Metro Tunnel
The need for an overhaul of the existing commuter rail network was first discussed in the early 2000s as unprecedented population growth began to place significant pressure on existing rail infrastructure and constraints on the inner core of the network as it approached capacity. Other problems faced by the network in the first decade of the 21st century included inefficient operations which had developed during years of low patronage, and a loss of corporate memory, caused in part by the privatisation of rail services in the late 1990s, which limited the flexibility of planners in dealing with the burgeoning passenger numbers. Consequently, a large number of services were experiencing major overcrowding in peak periods. A series of planning documents released during the early 2000s, including "Melbourne 2030" (2002), "Linking Melbourne" (2004) and "Meeting Our Transport Challenges" (2006) identified that significant capacity constraints existed in the central core and on the Dandenong corridor, but did not propose any significant capital works in the city centre, instead suggesting that the issues could be resolved by relatively minor operational changes and construction of a third track to Dandenong.
Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne was selected as the new operator by the State Government of Victoria through its relevant agency, the Director of Public Transport, in June 2009 and replaced the previous operator, Connex Melbourne, on 30 November 2009. It was awarded an eight-year contract with the option of being extended for a further seven years. On 2 April 2012, the newly created Public Transport Victoria took over the management of the contract from the Director of Public Transport.
Chelyabinsk Metro
The total length of tunnels will be , with an additional track to the depot.
Metro Tunnel
In February 2015, the State government established the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority, with $40 million in funding, to oversee planning of the project and $1.5 billion to commence land and property acquisitions and detailed route investigation, and a further $3 billion in funding was committed. Most of the project would be built as a public-private partnership, with private sector investors funding much of the estimated $9 billion to $11 billion cost upfront. Early enabling works commenced in late 2016. In late 2017, sections of the Melbourne central business district, including City Square and parts of Swanston Street, were closed to enable construction of the tunnel and stations. The project was originally expected to be completed in 2026, but has now been revised to late 2025.
Metro Tunnel
On the eve of the election, it emerged that the Abbott federal government had redirected $3 billion in funding to the EWL, and would refuse to allow it to be used for the Melbourne Metro project instead, despite mounting pressure to reconsider his intransigence. A Labor state government under Premier Daniel Andrews was elected the following day, and immediately set about cancelling contracts for the EWL. At the same time, however, new Treasurer Tim Pallas conceded that it would be "difficult" to deliver the Metro Tunnel given the complexities of the funding dispute.
Sydney–Melbourne co-axial cable
The Sydney–Melbourne co-axial cable was a major telecommunications engineering and construction project in south-eastern Australia in the early 1960s, designed to significantly increase telecommunications transmission capacity between Sydney and Melbourne and other centres, along its route including Canberra.
The cable's route was approximately 960 kilometres and roughly followed the Hume Highway as it existed at that time. Key points along the route were Sydney–Liverpool–Campbelltown–Bowral–Goulburn–Canberra–Yass–Gundagai–Wagga Wagga–Culcairn–Albury–Wangaratta–Benalla–Euroa–Seymour–Melbourne.
It was five years in the making and cost £6.89 million to complete. Its prime purpose was to boost the capacity for telecommunications between the two major cities. The cable was made up of three pairs of tubes, each pair capable of carrying 1,260 simultaneous telephone connections.
There was a marker stone commemorating the official opening of the cable at 532 Hume Highway, Casula but it has since been removed. There is a corresponding marker stone in Gordon Reserve near the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne.
Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne, known colloquially as simply Metro, is the franchised operator of the suburban railway network in Melbourne, Australia. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between MTR Corporation (60%), John Holland Group (20%) and UGL Rail (20%).
Melbourne Metro 2
A leaked long-term plan produced by Transport for Victoria also included the tunnel, and suggested that the western section should be built first, followed by the originally proposed eastern section.
Mumbai Metro
In November 2018, the MMRDA cleared the Metro 11, which connects Wadala with CSMT. This would be considered to be an extension to Metro 4. The length of the line is 11.4 km, and it proposed to cost Rs. 8,739 crore (US$1.207 billion). The line will be partially underground, with 8 underground and 2 elevated stations.
Tunnel Bend diversion tunnel
The tunnel is approximately 3 metres wide and 2 metres high and 200 metres long through stable rock. It is dry during periods of low river flow, and appears quite safe to walk through. The tunnel was constructed by the Goulburn Valley Sluicing Co. in 1866, during the Victorian gold rush, to divert the river flow and enable the working of the bed for alluvial gold. Floods the following year 'injured' the company's works. They planned to rebuild and resume operations when the flooding subsided, but there is no evidence that this happened.
Metro Tunnel
North Melbourne station is to be located near the intersection of Arden and Laurens Streets in North Melbourne. It is planned to allow for urban renewal of the formerly industrial suburb, and is expected to serve some 25,000 residents once complete. The existing North Melbourne station will be renamed West Melbourne.
Melbourne Metro 2
By 2015, with planning work for the first Metro Tunnel underway, the "Herald Sun" began referring to the second tunnel as "Metro 2", as the state government confirmed that the new Parkville station would be designed with provision for future expansion to an interchange. At the same time, the newspaper reported that the state government of premier Daniel Andrews was broadly supportive of the need for a second major rail project at the completion of the Metro Tunnel.
Beacon Hill Tunnel (Hong Kong)
As part of the modernisation of the KCR, under reformist Governor Murray MacLehose, a double-tracked, electrified tunnel was built 30 to 40 metres west of the original one. Work started in 1978. The main contractor was Aoki Corporation and the tunnel was built at a cost of about HK$78 million. It was broken through on 23 April 1980. The tunnel was completed by 1981, enabling the KCRC to introduce a metro-standard service to serve the rapidly growing new towns north of the mountain range. The original tunnel was closed upon completion of the new one, and is now partially occupied by a 750 mm diameter town gas pipeline.
Metro Tunnel
Discussions about the funding of the project continued into late April. The state government acknowledged that the Abbott federal government would not make any contribution to the project, but stated that it remained "hopeful" a future federal government would change the policy. Towards the end of the month, the Andrews government announced that $1.5 billion would be allocated in the upcoming state Budget for the full cost of pre-construction works, land and property acquisition and detailed route investigations, on top of the already announced money for planning. Among the work funded was drilling 140 bore holes to establish ground conditions along the route. However, questions remained about the state government's capacity to fund the remainder of the project, and it was reported that no business case had been completed, despite this being Labor's key objection to the Melbourne Rail Link plan when in opposition. A levy on land tax for commercial properties benefiting from the tunnel, similar to that used on the City Loop and on the contemporary London Crossrail project, was proposed as one possible solution. At the same time the funding announcement was made, MMRA announced it had appointed technical and planning advisors for the project.
Metro Tunnel
The tunnel is anticipated to be operational by the end of 2025.
Capital City Trail
The Capital City Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which circles the Melbourne city centre and some inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is 29km in length, and mostly consists of sections of other trails, such as the Merri Creek Trail, Main Yarra Trail, Moonee Ponds Creek Trail and Inner Circle Rail Trail.
Railways in Melbourne
Melbourne's suburban network includes 16 electrified lines and 1 non-electrified line. Many lines have been lengthened over time, most notably the Mernda line from Epping to South Morang in 2012 and again to Mernda in 2018. Lines have also changed terminus or layout, including the forthcoming changes to the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury lines as part of the Melbourne Metro Rail Project. Numerous proposals for new lines or extensions not yet constructed have been made, including the long-outstanding Doncaster railway line and Melbourne Airport rail link.Stony Point line services operate as shuttles from Frankston station with passengers to and from Flinders Street required to change trains. It is the only non-electrified line operated by Metro Trains, with services being operated using Sprinter diesel multiple units leased from V/Line.
Platform screen doors
In Melbourne, the Melbourne Metro tunnel currently under construction from South Kensington to South Yarra will feature platform screen doors on the new stations. New trains are currently being designed that will link with the full height doors and the new line is due to open in 2026.
Abode318
Initially proposed in 2007, and named the Barton Tower, the skyscraper anticipated the current trend of "skinny skyscrapers" proposed in Melbourne. Indeed, the most unusual feature of the building is its "curving exterior" which is illuminated by 10 millimetres of rose coloured glass, which incorporates thermal properties that insulate the skyscraper. Abode318 comprises 450 apartments across 57 levels, and reaches a height of . The project received approval by then-Planning Minister Matthew Guy in 2011, with construction commencing later that year. At a cost of AUD$136 million, the building topped-out in late 2014, and was completed by early 2015. At the time of its completion, Abode318 was the 10th–tallest building in Melbourne; additionally, it became the first building since the 2006 completion of the Eureka Tower to be listed in the "ten-tallest buildings of Melbourne".
Line 3 (Mumbai Metro)
Metro 3 of the Mumbai Metro, also referred to as the Colaba–Bandra-SEEPZ line, is a part of the metro system for the city of Mumbai, India of which construction has been initiated. When completed, the 33.5-km long line will be the first underground metro line in Mumbai. The metro line will connect Cuffe Parade business district in the extreme south of the city to SEEPZ in the north-central with 26 underground and one at-grade station. The track width is standard gauge. The cost of this corridor is estimated at . Line 3 is expected to reduce road congestion, besides reducing the load on the Western Line between Bandra and Churchgate.
High Capacity Metro Trains
The High Capacity Metro Trains are a fleet of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains on order for use by Metro Trains Melbourne on the Melbourne rail network. They are due to enter service in mid-2019 and will eventually become the primary rollingstock used in the Metro Rail Tunnel when it opens in 2025. The HCMTs will carry around 1400 passengers in 7 carriages, running on Melbourne's 1500 V DC overhead catenary system, and will be the most advanced trains in the Metro Trains fleet when they are introduced. A consortium of investors and rail companies is constructing the trains in China and Australia via a contract with the Victorian Government, in addition to upgrade works necessary for the operation of the trains.
Metro Tunnel
A shortlist of preferred bidders for the project's main contract, the "tunnel and stations" public-private partnership, was released in August, along with further details of the MMRA's recommended engineering solutions. The bidders were three consortia composed of engineering, construction and finance coompanies: Continuum Victoria, consisting Acciona Infrastructure, Ferrovial Agroman, Honeywell, Downer Rail & Plenary Group; Moving Melbourne Together, made up of Pacific Partnerships, CPB Contractors, Ghella, Salini Impregilo, Serco & Macquarie Capital; and Cross Yarra Partnership, including Lend Lease, John Holland, Bouygues & Capella Capital. At the same time, the MMRA exercised its powers of compulsory acquisition to acquire City Square from the City of Melbourne, well head of the original schedule.
St Kilda Road, Melbourne
On 13 February 2017 St Kilda Rd was included on Australia’s National Heritage List. In June 2017, a small number of the elm trees lining St. Kilda Road were cut down for the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel project.
Metro Tunnel
State Library station is to be located on the intersection of Swanston and La Trobe Streets in the Melbourne CBD above the existing Melbourne Central station. This will allow for interchange opportunities between stations and existing lines and relieve pressure on Swanston Street tram routes. The station will service the northern end of the CBD, as well as the State Library of Victoria and RMIT University. The line will continue under Swanston Street running below the existing City Loop tunnels. The station will serve up to 40,000 passengers once complete.
Metro Tunnel
On 15 January 2017, works officially began on the project, with the partial closure of A'Beckett and Franklin streets in the CBD. Local media noted that the commencement marked almost precisely a decade since the project's inception. The news was followed by Infrastructure Australia releasing a positive assessment of the project's business case and urging the federal government to contribute funding to the tunnel.
Savamala
Pushing their pet project, Belgrade Watefront, the city government announced in May 2017 that it has decided on the future route of the tunnel. From the direction of Savamala, it will enter underground apparently at the same place as planned before, near the Park Luka Ćelović and the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics and will come out at the Stefan "Bulevar Despota Stefana", near the building of the Belgrade City Police, with the total length of . It will pass beneath Terazije (where it will reach its lowest, below ground) and Nikola Pašić Square. The tunnel will have two separate tubes for each direction. Each tube will be wide, with two wide lanes, two pedestrian pathways of and two evacuation exits for the vehicles. At the entry and exit points, 21 objects would have to be demolished, with the total area of . Also, the Palilula exit section, streets of "Cvijićeva" and "Dunavska", would have to be widened and adapted for the future traffic coming out of the tunnel. Analysis showed that the ground traffic will be relieved of 3,120 vehicles per hour, which will result in the reduction of the vehicle number in downtown by 10–15%, and driving time and carbon-dioxide emission by 10%. At Savamala entry point, there will be constructed a roundabout in "Karađorđeva" street to accommodate both the tunnel and the future new bridge on the Sava, after the surprising decision by the city authorities to demolish the Old Sava Bridge and build a new one. It is expected for the construction of the tunnel to begin in late 2018 and to be finished in 30 months, i.e., by the mid-2021. Original estimates placed the price of the project between 100 and 130 million euros, but the city government now claims that it will cost only 78 millions. Still, it is more of a conceptual design for now, as the full plans and projects are yet to be done.
Metro Tunnel
Parkville station is to be located on the intersection of Grattan Street and Royal Parade in Parkville, in proximity to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Melbourne University. The station will relieve pressure on north-south tram routes and the congested 401 bus service between North Melbourne station and the university/hospital precinct. New tram stops are to be constructed as part of the project allowing for seamless tram and train interchanges. The station will service the busy hospital and research precinct, including the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. The station is expected to service 60,000 passengers each day in 2031.
Metro Tunnel
A significant point of contention has been the relative cost of the project and the capacity of the State to afford up to $11 billion. The former Abbott Federal Government has specifically ruled out funding urban rail projects across the country, limiting funding options for the Melbourne Metro project and placing pressure on the State Government to fund the project with a mix of debt and private business investment. While funding allocated by the Abbott Government for the now-scrapped East West Link was specifically ruled out for use on urban rail projects in Melbourne, the former Turnbull government had removed this condition.
Vienna Pre-metro
This tunnel was opened in January 1969 an has a length of 3.4 kilometers. As part of the construction work a historic church, the "Florianikirche", has been demolished. It was planned to convert this pre-metro to a full metro line U5 from "Gumpendorfer Strasse" to St. Marx, but has never been seriously pursued. In 2016, the U5 is constructed in a different part of Vienna.
Malta–Gozo tunnel
On 11 December 2018, the Ministry for Transport confirmed that the Malta–Gozo tunnel project plans are expected to be published within May or June 2019. The Ministry stated that “It is intended that the tunnel will have two lanes, one in each direction, width of 3.25m to 3.50m, a central buffer area in between with a width of approx. 1.00m, and a 1.00m wide shoulder on both sides of the carriageway.” The Ministry also added that the tunnel structure itself will be constructed with concrete segments and include infrastructural systems for ventilation, illumination, water drainage and pumping. Ian Borg said the tender for the design, building, maintenance, and operation of the tunnel would be published some time in 2019.
Aurora Melbourne Central
Developed by Malaysian–based UEM Sunrise and designed by Elenberg Fraser, the project was first proposed in 2014, and received approval by then-Planning Minister Matthew Guy in October 2014. Previously named 224-252 La Trobe Street, after the address of the 3,197 m site, the project was later renamed to Aurora Melbourne Central after the natural light display aurora australis, and the shopping centre of the same name.
Mount Victoria Tunnel
The tunnel was built in 15 months by the Hansford and Mills Construction Company. The project cost around £132,000 and greatly reduced travel time between the Eastern Suburbs and the central business district of Wellington.
Rail transport in Victoria
Few railway tunnels exist in Victoria, with the exception of the Melbourne City Loop. The longest tunnel before the opening of the loop was on the Fyansford Cement Works Railway (near Geelong), where a 1300 metre long tunnel existed on a narrow gauge quarry railway. Of those open today the longest is the single track 422 metre long Geelong Tunnel, followed by the double track 385 metre Elphinstone and the 390 metre long Big Hill Tunnels on the Bendigo line. A 154 metre long tunnel also exists on the Healesville line, as well as three tunnels on the suburban Hurstbridge line, and another on the freight lines under Footscray station.
Melbourne tram route 75
Melbourne tram route 75 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network. It operates from Vermont South to Central Pier, Docklands, serviced by A and B class trams from Camberwell depot. At 22.8 kilometres, it is currently the longest line in the network.
Metro Tunnel
In June 2016, John Holland was awarded a $324 million contract which includes the excavation of 35 metre deep open shafts adjacent to Swanston Street to enable the underground construction of the two new city stations, and the relocation of up to 100 subterranean utilities. Utility relocations started in July 2016. Ultimately, however, the federal budget released a week later included $857 billion redirected from other infrastructure projects to the tunnel; the funds did not represent additional support to Victoria but rather a reallocation of existing contributions.
Metro Tunnel
By November, with the state election approaching, the rail tunnel had become a major point of contention in the campaign, with the government apparently prioritising the East West Link (EWL) road tunnel, and the Labor opposition promising that "under no circumstances" would it build the EWL if elected. As an alternative, Labor proposed reinstating the original Metro Tunnel plan, which retained the support of senior public servants in the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure. According to this analysis, the original tunnel route performed substantially better than the EWL in a cost-benefits analysis, but no such calculation had been performed for the new Melbourne Rail Link.
Railway tunnels in Victoria, Australia
The Melbourne–Echuca railway or Bendigo line was commenced by the private Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company, but when the company experienced financial difficulties it was taken over by the Victorian colonial government in 1856, with the Victorian Railways Department being formed to operate the new public railway system. The line opened in five stages from February 1859 to September 1864, and was at the time the largest engineering undertaking in the colony. More than 6,000 men were involved in construction of the Bendigo line with the main contractors Cornish and Bruce undertaking the works. The line served a strategic economic need of serving the important goldfields of Castlemaine and Bendigo (then called Sandhurst), and capturing for Melbourne the trade in wool and other goods from northern Victoria and the Riverina which were formerly shipped through South Australia via the Murray River. Two tunnels were built on the line. The Elphinstone Tunnel, long, was built in brick and bluestone as a double-track horseshoe profile tunnel, and was completed in 1860. The Big Hill Tunnel, located between Kangaroo Flat and Ravenswood, south of Bendigo. Like the Elpinstone Tunnel, it was double-tracked when built, but was singled as part of the Regional Fast Rail project. 
Cheviot tunnel was built for the extension of the Mansfield railway line from Yea and is located near Limestone, roughly halfway between Yea and Molesworth, where the line crosses the Black Range at McLoughlin's Gap. It was built in 1889, at a cost of £88,661/2/11, by contractors by Kenny Bros. as part of the Yea to Cathkin section, but construction was delayed by accidents.
Rail Projects Victoria
The Metro Tunnel is a pair of rail tunnels between South Kensington in Melbourne's inner north-west and South Yarra in the city's inner south-east. Currently under construction, the tunnels will connect the Sunbury line to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines through the Melbourne CBD. The project includes five new stations – North Melbourne, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac – and will increase the capacity of the inner Melbourne network by releasing train paths in the existing City Loop underground railway. The tunnel is expected to be structurally complete by 2024 and to open in 2025.
Metro Trains Melbourne
In September 2016, Evolution Rail (a consortium of Downer Rail, Changchun Railway Vehicles and Plenary Group) was selected to build 65 new High Capacity Metro Trains for delivery from 2019.
Melbourne City Centre
The Hoddle Grid is the layout of the streets in the centre of the original Melbourne City Centre. The grid was laid out in 1837 by Robert Hoddle. All major streets are one and half chains (99 ft or 30 m) in width, while all blocks are exactly 10 chains square (10 acres, 201 m × 201 m). It is one mile (1.6 km) long by half a mile wide (0.80 km). The grid's longest axis is oriented 70 degrees clockwise from true north, to align better with the course of the Yarra River. The majority of Melbourne is oriented at 8 degrees clockwise from true north–noting that magnetic north was 8° 3' E in 1900, increasing to 11° 42' E in 2009. It covers the area from Flinders Street to Queen Victoria Market, and from Spencer Street to Spring Street.
MTR Corporation
In June 2009, the Metro Trains Melbourne consortium of MTR (60%), John Holland and United Rail (20% each) were selected to operate the Melbourne suburban railway network, taking over from Connex Melbourne on 30 November 2009. In September 2016, the government opened negotiations with Metro Trains Melbourne to extend the contract for seven years until November 2024.
Grimsel Tunnel
The tunnel is proposed to carry a single-track metre gauge railway and railway electrification system. The total length of the new Grimsel Line () route containing the tunnel would be . It would link two groups of existing railway lines constructed to one-metre track gauge in Switzerland, forming a contiguous route of .
The power transmission cables would run at 380kV and replace Swissgrid's existing overhead power line, and allow the removal of the 121 electricity pylons that had been in place for sixty years.
East West Link (Melbourne)
Yarra Council claimed the tunnel would exacerbate congestion on Hoddle Street, Flemington Road and surrounding streets. Mayor Jackie Fristacky said more than 80 percent of all inbound vehicles on the Eastern Freeway would still seek to exit at Hoddle Street and other inner roads to reach their inner-city destinations. "The East West Link will not help them. It will actually make congestion on Hoddle Street worse because it will get more cars on that road faster. It will ultimately cause major social, health and environmental damage," she said. A Victorian Department of Transport briefing prepared for Mulder said only a small proportion of vehicles now using Hoddle Street were likely to use the tunnel as an alternative if there were no off-ramps to the city, while a report for the government by consulting firm Veitch Lister in July 2013 found that while traffic on parts of Hoddle Street closer to the city would drop by up to 9 percent, the project could cause congestion on Hoddle Street closer to the Eastern Freeway to rise by up to 35 percent by 2021. Melbourne Airport chief executive Chris Woodruff warned that congestion between the city and airport could worsen once the East West Link was built unless the Tullamarine Freeway was widened. In its submission to the state government panel on the project, the City of Boroondara also raised concerns that traffic on some streets, including Princess and Asquith Streets and Burke Road, could rise by up to 30 percent.
Line 3 (Mumbai Metro)
Two 5.2 metre diameter twin tunnels of 33.5 km each will be dug at a depth of 20–25 metres. Seventeen tunnel boring machines (TBMs), each weighing around 1400 tonnes and costing , will be used to dig the tunnels. The TBMs will be lowered through shafts or pits using a specialized crane. Pre-cast segments will be put on the tunnels' diameter to prevent cave ins, after the TBMs bore 1.2 metres. Tunnels will have to be dug through a mix of soil and basalt rock, and is expected to be difficult. TBMs can dig at an average rate of 8 metres per day through rock, and at a rate of 14 metres per day through soil. After TBMs bore through section, the metro tunnel will be lined with pre-cast concrete rings to strengthen the tunnels. Boring and placing rings occurs sequentially. For the entire Metro 3 corridor, around 40,000 concrete rings were cast in 65 moulds. Casting of the rings took place at six casting yards - four in Wadala, one each at Darga, and on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR). The first concrete ring was fabricated at a Wadala casting yard on 7 March 2017.
Rail Projects Victoria
RPV is responsible for the delivery of the Metro Tunnel project, including property acquisitions, planning approvals and ensuring positive social outcomes. It appointed a consortium led by Lendlease and John Holland to construct the tunnels in late 2017.
Melbourne tram route 109
In 1929 the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) started converting the Collins Street cable lines to electric traction, with the last cable tram running down Collins Street on 14 September 1929, and the first electric tram on 8 December 1929. At the same time the MMTB built a new electric line down the centre of Victoria Parade to replace the cable line, which opened on 15 September 1929. For the next six decades the Melbourne to Mont Albert tram was numbered 42, celebrated by a 1982 theatrical production, "Storming Mont Albert by Tram", which was performed on a specially-chartered Route 42 tram from the Mont Albert terminus to the city and return.
East West Link (Melbourne)
Then Opposition leader Daniel Andrews, some Geelong politicians as well as the G21 Geelong regional alliance and the Metropolitan Transport Forum, which represents 23 councils covering three million residents, criticised the Government's decision to begin work on the eastern end of the project. Andrews said the Government had ignored congestion problems in Melbourne's western suburbs and threatened Victoria's economic growth with commuters and freight carriers losing time in traffic. He said Victorian Labor "could not support the tunnel" and said Labor would release a detailed transport alternative before the end of 2013. Labor Party federal member for Corio Richard Marles said the greatest need was for an alternative to CityLink as an entry to Melbourne and state Labor MP for Bellarine Lisa Neville said the decision to start from the east was disastrous for the Geelong region. The Metropolitan Transport Forum said it had written to Transport Minister Terry Mulder urging the Government to reconsider its priorities and start the project at is western end make an earlier start on the Melbourne Metro Rail Project tunnel because it would take more trucks off suburban streets, improve public transport and support the growth of the Port of Melbourne.
2018 Victorian state election
Arguably the most pressing issue of the campaign was public transport and infrastructure. Melbourne's record population growth of more than 125,000 people a year made both party leaders focus on big transport initiatives. Labor unveiled a $50 billion underground rail loop of the suburbs surrounding the city, though admitted the project would not be completed before 2050 and actually pledged $300 million for a business study. The Coalition instead proposed a $19 billion "European-style" regional rail network that would rebuild the entire network and include high-speed rail on four lines, travelling up to 200km an hour. Both parties agreed on the West Gate Tunnel, North East Link and Metro Rail projects, though the Coalition pledged to bring back the defunct East West Link project which was scrapped at a cost of $1 billion by the Labor Government.
Aurora Melbourne Central
When completed, the development will reach 270.5 metres in height – making it the second-tallest building in Melbourne, behind the Eureka Tower. Aurora will comprise 941 residential apartments and 208 serviced apartments across 88 storeys; as such, it will also be one of the biggest residential buildings in Australia.
Globe and Phoenix Mine
The longest tunnel that passes beneath the CBD is 43 km long and 873 metres deep. This depth is level 26 and 27 which way below sea level posing no threat to city buildings.
Mount Victoria Tunnel
The National Land Transport Programme forecasts costs for duplication of Mount Victoria Tunnel at NZ$6.6m for the design phase and $8.8m for property purchases, but no figure for construction of the tunnel. The design and property purchase phases are classified as "Reserve" and are unlikely to proceed until completion of the investigation phase. This means it is almost certain no construction work could commence on duplicating Mount Victoria Tunnel before 2012. Given the dependency of such a project on improvements at the Basin Reserve, it would be fair to assume that any tunnel duplication is dependent on significant capacity improvements to traffic flow around the Basin Reserve.
Metro Tunnel
In October 2015 the government announced it had abandoned earlier plans to run the tunnel just metres beneath Swanston Street and above the existing City Loop tunnels and instead place parts of the project 40 metres underground between CBD North and CBD South stations. The decision was made to reduce disruption to trams and traders on Swanston Street and avoid removing critical utilities, such as telecommunication lines, from beneath the street. The cost of such a change was disputed, with the government claiming the additional tunnelling expense would be met by the savings of services remaining in place, but opposition parties arguing the change could be up to $1 billion more expensive.
Summit Tunnel
The tunnel, between Littleborough and Walsden near Todmorden, was bored beneath the Pennines, a natural obstruction to most forms of traffic. The tunnel is just over long and carries two standard-gauge tracks in a single horseshoe-shaped tube, approximately wide and high. Summit Tunnel was designed by the civil engineer Thomas Longridge Gooch, assisted by Barnard Dickinson. Progress on the tunnel’s construction was slower than anticipated, largely because the excavation process was more difficult than anticipated. On 1 March 1841, Summit Tunnel was officially opened by Sir John Frederick Sigismund Smith; it had cost of £251,000 and 41 workers had lost their lives.
Mount Baker Tunnel
The official length is , though the perceived length while driving is closer to because of a cut-and-cover "lid" between the western portal and the beginning of the actual tunnel under the Mount Baker ridge. The former west portal, now located well inside the tunnel, is no longer discernible and its two arch structures were removed during 1989–1993 modification work. The eastern end of the tunnel links to the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge (collectively the I-90 floating bridge) on Lake Washington, to Mercer Island.
Victoria Park Tunnel
The tunnel, to initially cost approximately NZ$440 million (2009 estimate), later corrected down to $340 million, is a northbound-traffic carrying structure only, entering the ground in the area of the existing 'Birdcage' heritage pub (which will be relocated to allow the tunnel portal to be built in the area), and reemerges to the northwest of the park where it feeds into additional lanes provided alongside the St Marys Bay stretch of the motorway. The tunnel provides three lanes of traffic, and is 440 m long. Construction was originally to last four years, starting in January 2010, after the new National government fast-tracked further state highways investment.
Melbourne Metro 2
After the Andrews government announced an expanded West Gate Tunnel project in 2017, in an attempt to improve transport links from the western suburbs, public transport advocates cited MM2 as a more sustainable alternative to the massive road tunnel. The MM2 project again received attention in December of that year, when the University of Melbourne announced plans to build a new campus for its Melbourne School of Engineering at Fishermans Bend. Although the state government suggested an extension of the tram network could be built to serve the facility, treasurer Tim Pallas admitted that a heavy rail line through the area was unlikely to proceed in the near future. At the same time, however, he mentioned that a "Metro 3" project was also possible, but did not provide any detail on the plan.
Little Peninsula Tunnel
The Little Peninsula Tunnel is a small river diversion tunnel on the upper Yarra River near McMahons Creek, around 80 km East of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The tunnel was dug in the 1860s by alluvial gold miners to provide access to the bed of the Yarra River.
Melbourne cable tramway system
The first line, from Spencer Street to the end of Bridge Road Richmond via Flinders Street, was opened on 11 November 1885, and all planned lines were built by 1891, the last being the short Windsor-St Kilda Esplanade line, opened 17 October 1891. By then it had about of double track (103.2 route km or 64.12 route miles) and 1,200 cars and trailers, on 15 routes radiating from the centre of Melbourne to neighbouring suburbs. It was one of the largest cable car systems in the world, comparable with those of San Francisco which had 23 lines, and Chicago which had 66.0 km of double track.
Melbourne Marathon
The Melbourne Marathon has been held every year from 1978. The 42.195 km run over the traditional marathon distance is the main race within the annual Melbourne Marathon Festival. The race celebrated its 30th birthday in 2007 with a new course which featured the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as both the starting point and finishing point. A total of 3328 competitors completed the 2008 race. Another 17,000 people participated in Half Marathon (21.1 km), 10 km and 5.5 km events.
Metro Tunnel
Final designs and concept images for the new stations were released in May 2018, using materials and features intended to reflect the character of the five station precincts. CYP, RPV and Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan expressed their hope that the designs would be accepted and integrated into the Melbourne landscape as new cultural icons following their completion. Then, in June, the state government released modelling demonstrating the project's contribution to improved accessbility in the CBD, with travel time savings from virtually all parts of Greater Melbourne to the Parkville and St Kilda Road areas served by the Metro Tunnel.
Great Istanbul Tunnel
The project was officially announced by Prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on 27 February 2015. The tunnel, in length and in diameter, will consist of three levels, two levels for road traffic and one level for rail system. It will be under the sea level. Situated between Gayrettepe on the European side and Küçüksu on the Asian side, it will integrate the highways between the three airports of the city, Istanbul Atatürk Airport, Sabiha Gökçen Airport, Istanbul New Airport, and the nine rail lines of the Istanbul Metro. The three bridges over the Bosphorus, 15 July Martyrs Bridge, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, will be linked together through the tunnel. The cost of the project will amount to US$3.5 billion. The financing of the construction will be on the build–operate–transfer basis.
Railways in Melbourne
By the 1970s, Melbourne's railway network was run down, with the last major investment on the suburban tracks having taken place nearly fifty years earlier. Sixty-year-old Tait trains (known colloquially as "red rattlers") were still in operation, and inner city congestion at Flinders Street led to peak hour delays. In February 1971, the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Act was passed, establishing the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Authority (MURLA) to build a connecting series of tunnels from the major stations along the north, south, east and west extremities of the Melbourne CBD. The project ran for over 14 years, opening progressively between 1981 and 1985. The loop was designed and constructed to improve the capacity of Flinders Street and Spencer Street stations to handle suburban trains and to offer easier connections for users.
Metro Tunneling Group
The scope of work for the new contract includes the design and civil works for a 3.1 km long metro twin tunnel and two underground metro stations. Within the construction period of 36 month the tunnel will be built by Shield TBM whereas the stations will be constructed using the cut + cover method.
Northwest Rapid Transit
Metro Trains Sydney Pty Ltd, a joint venture between MTR Corporation (60%), John Holland (20%) and UGL Rail (20%), will operate the network with a fleet of 22 Alstom Metropolis trains for 15 years when it opens in 2019. The same companies are also partners in Metro Trains Melbourne that has operated the Melbourne suburban network since 2009.
Metro Tunneling Group
"TBM Main Drive":Total length of tunnel section is 3.14 km.
Trams in Melbourne
Since privatisation extensions have been made to the tram system, with the $28 million extension of the 109 to Box Hill opening on 2 May 2003, a $7.5 million extension along Docklands Drive in Docklands opened on 4 January 2005, and a $42.6 million extension of the 75 to Vermont South opening on 23 July 2005.
It was announced on 27 September 2010 that Bombardier Transportation had won a $303 million contract to supply and maintain 50 new E-class trams, the contract includes an option for a further 100. They will be built at Bombardier's Dandenong factory, with the propulsion systems and bogies coming from Bombardier's factories in Mannheim and Siegen, Germany, respectively. The trams will be 33 metres long and have a capacity of 210 passengers and are due to be in service in 2013. The first E-class tram arrived at Preston Workshops in late June 2013 for testing, with the first two E-class entering revenue service in November 2013.
Sydney Metro
In November 2016, Sydney Metro, in particular the John Holland Group, Dragados and Transport for NSW, were awarded the 2016 NSW Premier's Award for Building Infrastructure for the 15 km twin-tunnels in Bella Vista and Epping, which are currently the longest tunnels constructed in Australia. The completion of these tunnels in early 2016 marked the completion of the first stage of Sydney Metro Northwest. The NSW Premier's award recognises "infrastructure projects in the state that make a difference to the local community".
North Melbourne railway station
On 29 November 2017, the state government announced that, as part of the Melbourne Metro Tunnel project, North Melbourne would be renamed West Melbourne, to better reflect its geographical location, and to allow a nearby new station to be named North Melbourne.
Railways in Melbourne
During the 2018 Victorian state election, the State Government also announced its Western Rail Plan, which would quadruplicate and electrify the rail lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale, allowing Metro services. Under this plan, Metro and V/Line regional services would be separated, allowing for higher speed trains to be introduced to Geelong and Ballarat. These faster trains would run via a new tunnel between Sunshine and Southern Cross Station to be built as part of the Airport rail link, potentially using the same new generation of electrified regional rolling stock as the Airport line. According to the Government, these lines could be fully electrified to Geelong and Ballarat and run at speeds of up to 250 km/h, significantly above the 160 km/h limit of current V/Line VLocity trains. Planning for the fast rail and electrification of the lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale will occur alongside planning for the Airport rail link, with construction set to start by 2022.
Rail Projects Victoria
The Metro Tunnel project was first proposed in 2008 by the state government led by John Brumby, following the Eddington Transport Study's recommendation of a new north-south rail connection. It was realigned and rebranded as the Melbourne Rail Link under premier Denis Napthine in 2014, but reverted to closely match its original form when the Liberal government lost the 2014 Victorian election. The establishment of the MMRA was announced in February 2015 with a commitment of $40 million. Premier Daniel Andrews, making the announcement, described the authority's initial task as managing the planning and site investigation works required to formally commence the Metro Tunnel project. The funding was brought forward from a promise made at the 2014 election for $300 million towards the project in the first budget of the new Labor government.
Port Phillip Arcade, Melbourne
The tenants of Port Phillip Arcade have been given until September 5 2017 to clear and leave their premises so that the arcade can be demolished in preparation for the Melbourne Metro Rail Project. The Melbourne Metro Rail Project is not offering compensation for loss of business or community. Individual offers have been made to tenants ranging from $30,000 to $125,000 to cover the costs of relocation.
Wellington Urban Motorway
Meanwhile, the original plans to extend the motorway beyond Willis Street had been significantly reviewed, with a new plan for an "arterial extension" at a 70 km/h standard proposed along the motorway alignment towards the existing Mount Victoria Tunnel (the original full motorway plan had been scrapped, as it would've meant the destruction of the Basin Reserve, and an unaffordable duplicate Mount Victoria Tunnel). That plan was shelved in 1993 because of funding constraints at the time. Transit New Zealand prioritised a three-stage approach to addressing the traffic issues between the Terrace Tunnel and the Mt Victoria Tunnel:
Metro Tunnel
On the other hand, transport economist Chris Hale has argued that while the capacity increase offered by the tunnel is real and probably more significant than that offered by incremental upgrades to the existing network, the project is the product of poor planning processes in the Victorian transport bureacracy and consequently reflects a "single-issue" approach to infrastructure which is inconsistent with contemporary best practice. Hale contends that the tunnel's route, which reinforces existing transport networks and focuses on the inner city as the single connection point of all transport, exemplifies outmoded thinking and, therefore, achieves its primary aims while failing to accomplish more extensive benefits for a similar cost.
Metro Tunnel
In February the following year, the state government announced that it was considering alternative alignments for the tunnel, because of concerns that cut and cover construction in Swanston Street in the central city would result in massive disruption to traffic and retail activity for an extended period of time. Then, at the launch of its 2014 budget in May, the Napthine government announced that the Metro Tunnel project would be abandoned and replaced with an alternative proposal called "Melbourne Rail Link". The MRL route consisted of a tunnel from South Yarra to Southern Cross via Kings Domain and Fishermans Bend, where it would join existing City Loop tunnels reconfigured for bidirectional traffic. Furthermore, the government promised that the realignment would enable a Melbourne Airport rail link to be constructed from Southern Cross at the same time. Ultimately, the reconfiguration of the rail network was to have produced similar operational outcomes as the Melbourne Metro plan, with a Sunbury-Dandenong corridor operating directly between Southern Cross and Flinders Street in both directions, but with an additional end-to-end line from Frankston to Ringwood via the new tracks.
Premier Tower
Designed by Elenberg Fraser, plans for a 294-metre (965 ft) tall building with 90-storeys were initially proposed in 2014; however, both the height and the number of levels of the project were reduced in later plans, which were submitted to the Department of Planning. In May 2015, Planning Minister Richard Wynne approved the development, which now consists of a 249–metre high residential and hotel skyscraper of 78 levels. When built, Premier Tower will become one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne. According to Elenberg Fraser, the design of the building was in part inspired by the music video of "Ghost" by Beyoncé.
City Tunnel (Malmö)
The City Tunnel () is a 17-kilometre rail link in Malmö, Sweden, running between Malmö Central Station (Malmö C) and the Øresund Bridge, of which six kilometres under Malmö city centre is in tunnel, to increase capacity on the Scanian network by changing Malmö C from a terminus to a through station. It's a part of the Oresund Line to Copenhagen Central Station. The work was projected to cost 9.45 billion SEK. Under construction since March 2005, the line was inaugurated by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on December 4, 2010, and revenue service commenced on December 12, 2010. Unlike other dual track railways in Sweden, is right-side traffic used. The spot at which the two tracks shifts side, is located in Arlöv around 5 km north-east of Malmö Central Station, and isn't considered to be a part this particular railway.
Metro Tunnel
Outside the state government, support grew for a more substantial augmentation of the rail network, with many such ideas based on new underground lines through the CBD. In 2005, "The Age" reported that it had received a number of proposals from planning experts and engineers for rail "loops and arcs" in the central city, and publicised a plan published by Monash University professor Graham Currie for a tunnel between the University of Melbourne to the north of the city and South Yarra station to the south-east. Currie's plan also envisaged extensive improvements to the Melbourne tram network, including upgrading lines along St Kilda Road and Chapel Street to light rail standards. In 2006, the state government considered a plan to construct a combined road and rail tunnel beneath the Yarra River to provide an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, but the idea was deemed unfeasible.
North East Link
The North East Link is a proposed 26-kilometre motorway scheme in Melbourne, Australia, to connect the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen, where the freeway would be upgraded from Bulleen Road to Springvale Road at Nunawading, as well as the construction of a new dedicated busway. On 11 December 2016, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that a re-elected Labor government would build the North East Link at a cost of $10 billion and construction would commence in late 2020, with an expected completion in 2027.
Melbourne Metro 2
The Stage 4 service plan in the 2012 NDPMR suggested that the tunnel – terminating at Fishermans Bend – would carry 15 trains an hour in peak times, most running the full length of the line from Mernda. However, no service plan has been publicly released for the longer tunnel to Newport .
Melbourne tram route 6
In October 2016, it was announced that as part of works associated with the Melbourne Metro Rail Project, route 6 will be extended from Melbourne University to Moreland to partly replace route 8 on 1 May 2017.
Melbourne Metro 2
Among the projects envisaged for Stage 3 – the five-year period after the completion of the Metro Tunnel – was the creation of another end-to-end line with a tunnel from Clifton Hill to Southern Cross. The NDPMR suggested that the tunnel would provide the additional capacity needed to serve the booming patronage on the South Morang, as well as providing additional space in the existing Clifton Hill tunnel of the City Loop so that a new line to Doncaster could be accommodated alongside Mernda line services. The NDPMR also recommended that the tunnel be extended in Stage 4 from Southern Cross to a new station at Fishermans Bend, with a view to further expansion to Newport and the Werribee line.
Melbourne University tram stop
Melbourne University tram stop consists of one island platform that provides accessible entry to low-floor trams, it is long enough to serve two D2-class trams at the same time, and has three shunts. It was designed by FMSA Architects for Yarra Trams and Department of Infrastructure. The design consists of six steel 'trees', clad with polycarbonate roofing protecting the seating areas; staff amenities; and ramps permitting full disabled access to the stop. The design is intended to compliment its environment while also improving reliability and flexibility.
East West Metro Tunnel
East West Metro Tunnel is an under construction underwater river tunnel of Kolkata Metro in Kolkata, West Bengal. The river tunnel is construct underneath Hooghly river. Tunnel length is and width is . A 520m stretch of the tracks will go through a tunnel under the Hooghly. The roof of the tunnel would be about 30 metres from the ground level. The tunnel will be completed in 2018. The tunnel will be "first underwater river tunnel in India " and South Asia . The tunnel used by East West Metro Line for metro rail service and constructed by Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation.
Australia 108
In 2009, plans were submitted by Fender Katsalidis Architects to the City of Melbourne for an 400 million residential building to be built on the 70 Southbank Boulevard site. In its original proposal, the building, 70 Southbank Boulevard, was planned to be in height and consist of 532 residential apartments, six levels of office space, a fresh food market and other retail amenities, spanning 72 floors. The building was designed to replicate the nearby Eureka Tower, also a Fender Katsalidis development. Nonda Katsalidis noted the similarities with the Eureka Tower:
The building development had been approved by then–Victorian Planning Minister Justin Madden on 21 April 2010, a decision which received backlash from the City of Melbourne council, dubbing the development as "excessively high" and "at odds with the City of Melbourne's height guidelines for the area". In May 2010, the council lodged an appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to have the building permit overturned, asserting that the building surpassed the height limit in the area's planning scheme. VCAT rejected the appeal; and noted that the planning scheme did not specify a maximum height.
Melbourne Metro 2
A report by Melbourne City Council in early 2018 stated its support for the entire MM2 project, and urged the state government to begin planning as soon as possible. It also suggested that Melbourne Metro 3 could be an entirely new line, combining a Melbourne Airport rail link and Doncaster line via a new tunnel in the central city connecting with existing stations. Then, at the end of May, a report commissioned by Infrastructure Victoria and produced by engineering consultants Arup found that MM2 would be more beneficial to the city than either of the two road projects being promoted ahead of the state election in November. The analysis suggested that MM2 would have a transformative impact on road congestion and consequently on the efficient transport of freight, but would be unlikely to ever produce a positive cost-benefit ratio using traditional methodology. The report attributed this in part to the enormous capital cost of the project, which it estimated at $20.3 billion.
Fremantle railway line
The new tunnel is the first in Western Australia to use a rigid overhead conductor rail instead of overhead wires, the same system as used on the Madrid Metro. With overhead wires, the clearance between the new tunnel and the existing Joondalup line tunnel is only . By using a conductor rail, the new tunnel could be built to a smaller diameter, allowing for an increased clearance between the two. The new tunnel opened on .
Melbourne Square (complex)
The master planned precinct consists of six towers across a 20,260m2 site—four residential buildings (Towers 1 to 4), a hotel (Tower 5), and an office (Tower 6). Tower 1 and 2 will both reach a height of , with Tower 3 and 4 reaching a height of . This residential component of the complex will comprise approximately 2,610 apartments amongst the four towers. Tower 5 will include 687 hotel rooms throughout 54 levels, with the tower reaching a height of . The commercial building, Tower 6, will reach and comprise 37 floors. The complex will be built in five stages, with an anticipated completion date in 2027.
West Gate Tunnel
The West Gate Tunnel, originally known as the Western Distributor, is a 5 kilometre toll road currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia, to link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with the Port of Melbourne and CityLink at Docklands via twin tunnels beneath Yarraville. The $5.5 billion project was proposed by infrastructure company Transurban in 2014 as a means of alleviating congestion on the M1 corridor, providing a new river crossing as an alternative to the West Gate Bridge and moving trucks away from homes in the city's inner west. The freeway-standard link includes two tunnels with three lanes each that are approximately 4 km long outbound and 2.8 km long inbound, a new bridge over the Maribyrnong River, and an elevated road above Footscray Road. The project will also widen the West Gate Freeway from 8 to 12 lanes between the M80 Ring Road and the West Gate Bridge. The Victorian government announced in December 2015 it would proceed with the project. Major construction of the tunnel and elevated tollway began in January 2018 and is expected to be completed in 2022.
Transport in Milford Sound
The proposal would create an 11.3 km tunnel through the mountain range and link up the existing roads with short extensions, cutting travel distances from 304 km one-way to only 125 km, with travel time reduced from 5.5 hours to 2 hours. Within the tunnel, buses would make use of guidance technology (side-facing wheels) to allow them to travel in a tunnel with much smaller diameter than usual, thus reducing construction costs. Speeds within the tunnel are expected to be up to 80 km/h at up to 2.5 minute frequency. The tunnel is expected to have to take at least 200,000 passengers per year to be commercially viable, and would cost around NZ$150 million. This cost is based on very little research, the ground has not had the sufficient surveying to calculate an accurate cost. The cost is likely to be much higher, seeing as the tunnel is going through 5 known fault lines.
Mount Victoria Tunnel
The Mount Victoria Tunnel in the New Zealand capital city of Wellington is 623 metres (slightly more than a third of a mile) long and 5 metres (16.4 ft) in height, connecting Hataitai to the centre of Wellington and the suburb of Mount Victoria, under the mount of the same name. It is part of State Highway 1.
Parkville railway station
Parkville railway station is a planned station to be built as part of the Melbourne Metro Rail Project. It will be built below Grattan Street between Leicester and Elizabeth Streets. The station will be built using the cut-and-cover method. Construction is scheduled to commence in 2018. It is due to open in 2026, serving the large health and education precinct in the area. It is set to be an interchange between the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel and the proposed Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel 2, and provisions have been left in the design of the station to allow for this.
High-speed rail in Australia
In 2014, the low-carbon advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions released a detailed study in response to the Rudd government's Phase 2 report. Prepared in collaboration with the German Aerospace Centre, the study used many of the same cost assumptions but proposed a modified route to minimise construction expense. Although slightly longer (1799 km compared to 1748 km), the length in tunnel was reduced by 44%, and the length on bridges by 25%. Much of the reduction came through making greater use of existing transport corridors for metropolitan access; the government study took the politically uncomplicated but extremely expensive option of simply tunnelling to the terminal stations. Project author Gerard Drew also criticised the Phase 2 Report's 45-year construction timeline, calling it "laughable". Drew also suggested that there was significant "gold plating" evident in the government report's cost estimates. BZE forecast that the high-speed railway would cost $84.3 billion and take 10 years to construct.