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 transport in Victoria
Few railway tunnels exist in Victoria, with the exception of the Melbourne City Loop. The longest tunnel before the opening of the loop was on the Fyansford Cement Works Railway (near Geelong), where a 1300 metre long tunnel existed on a narrow gauge quarry railway. Of those open today the longest is the single track 422 metre long Geelong Tunnel, followed by the double track 385 metre Elphinstone and the 390 metre long Big Hill Tunnels on the Bendigo line. A 154 metre long tunnel also exists on the Healesville line, as well as three tunnels on the suburban Hurstbridge line, and another on the freight lines under Footscray station.