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.
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.