The first timetabled train from Sunbury has travelled through Melbourne’s new Metro Tunnel, entering the tunnel at 10:04am and marking the beginning of a new era for the city’s rail network.
The 9:28am service from Sunbury and a 9:03am service from East Pakenham converged beneath the CBD, arriving almost simultaneously at the new Town Hall Station before continuing along the 97-kilometre corridor. The tunnel effectively doubles the size of Melbourne’s underground network and delivers a direct cross-city connection for the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.
High-capacity signalling – now in place across all three corridors – and the removal of every level crossing along the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines have helped unlock faster, more frequent services.
To mark the opening, travel across the network is free today and every weekend until 1 February. The Summer Start timetable also begins today, adding more than 240 extra weekly services on the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines, all stopping at the five new underground stations: Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac.
Between Westall and West Footscray, Metro Tunnel services will run every 20 minutes from 10am to 3pm on weekdays and from 10am to 7pm on weekends, with some weekend services extending to East Pakenham and Sunbury.
From 1 February, the Big Switch will fully integrate the Metro Tunnel into the metropolitan network.
Construction of the tunnel has spanned years of work, with more than 7,000 people excavating 1.8 million cubic metres of rock and soil, building twin tunnels, laying 40 kilometres of track, pouring more than 750,000 cubic metres of concrete and installing 157,000 tonnes of steel.
