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.
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.