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.
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.