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 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.