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.
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.