Melbourne Metro

{{about|the planned rail tunnel|the suburban train operator|Metro Trains Melbourne}} [[File:Melbrail former present proposed.svg|320px|thumb|Diagram showing Melbourne's rail network, including former and planned lines]] The '''Melbourne Metro''' is a planned metropolitan rail tunnel in [[Melbourne]], Australia. The tunnels are proposed to travel from [[South Kensington railway station]] (north west of the [[Melbourne CBD]]) to [[Caulfield railway station]] (in the south east). The tunnel was announced in December 2008 as part of the Victorian State Government's [[Victorian Transport Plan]]. The rail tunnel is proposed to be built in two stages, with the first stage extending from [[Footscray, Victoria|Footscray]]/South Kensington to the [[Kings Domain, Melbourne|Domain]] Interchange, providing direct rail connections for the first time to the [[St Kilda Road]] business district, south of the Melbourne CBD, and relieving pressure on the many tram services currently running through the area. The Victorian State Government is also exploring the option of extending Stage 1 further south to Commercial Road, to expand the reach of rail services to more of the St Kilda Road commercial precinct. This stage is expected to cost in excess of {{A$|4.5 billion}} and be completed by 2018. It will be serviced by [[Sunbury railway line|Sunbury (Sydenham) line]] services initially, which will no longer operate via the [[City Loop]]. [[Melton railway line|Melton line]] services are also expected to use the tunnel when this line is upgraded to an electrified, metro service. The Stage 1 (Melbourne Metro 1) rail tunnel would provide new stations at the Domain Interchange (tram interchange at the corner of St Kilda Road and Domain Road), and the [[Parkville, Victoria|Parkville]] university/hospital precinct (near Grattan Street or the Haymarket round about on Flemington Road), and would provide interchange opportunities at the [[Melbourne Central railway station]] and [[Flinders Street station]]s. An additional station option is to be explored at West Melbourne, and if Stage 1 is in fact extended to Commercial Road an additional station would also be provided here. Stage 2 (Melbourne Metro 2) will involve the extension of the rail tunnel from the Domain (or Commercial Road) to [[Caulfield railway station|Caulfield station]]. Once complete, this stage would allow [[Cranbourne railway line|Cranbourne line]], [[Pakenham railway line|Pakenham line]] and [[Frankston railway line|Frankston line]] services to run via the new tunnel, through the Melbourne CBD, and out to the north-west as [[Bendigo railway line|Sunbury]] and Melton services. To date, the Department of Transport have not provided specific details on the proposed alignment, however they have outlined indicative locations of potential rail stations. The Melbourne Metro is part of a package of major projects to increase capacity in the Melbourne rail network, particularly within the inner part of the network, to relieve pressure of existing service congestion and provide for an expansion of services to accommodate projected growth. ==Current status== {{Ref improve section|date=July 2010}} {{externalvideo|video1= [http://www.transport.vic.gov.au/web23/Home.nsf/AllDocs/C8E007130C138F60CA2577EA0005C39B Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel - Detailed Animation]|video2= [http://www.transport.vic.gov.au/web23/Home.nsf/Alldocs/875271427D909A93CA2577EA0001EA6B Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel - Overview Animation]}} In June 2010, Infrastructure Australia, the Commonwealth Government appointed advisory body for major infrastructure investment, defined Melbourne Metro 1 as a "Ready to proceed" project in its report "Getting the fundamentals right for Australia's Infrastructure Priorities". The Commonwealth considers the recommendations of Infrastructure Australia when allocating budget priorities for major infrastructure provision. The Commonwealth Government had previously provided $40–50 million to the Victorian State Government to undertake detailed route investigations for the rail tunnel. In July 2010, the Victorian Government announced the outcomes of these investigations, with the Melbourne Metro 1 tunnel proposed to terminate at the Domain Interchange, with new stations at Arden (North Melbourne), Parkville (Royal Parade and Grattan Street), CBD North (connected to Melbourne Central), CBD South (connected to Flinders Street Station) and Domain Interchange. ==Line== {| {{Railway line header|class="toccolours" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" rules="all" style="float:left; clear:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em; empty-cells:show; border-style:solid; border-width:1px; border-collapse:collapse; font-size:85%;"}} {{UKrail-header2|Melbourne Metro Tunnel|#AB53AC}} {{BS-table}} {{BS3|tSTR||tSTR||Werribee Line, Sydenham Line|||}} {{BS3|tSTRlf|ABZlr|tSTRrf|||||}} {{BS3||BHF||6.1km|'''''[[Footscray railway station|Footscray]]''''' (FSY)||Zone 1|}} {{BS3||HST||4.7Km|'''''[[South Kensington railway station|South Kensington]]''''' (SKN)||Zone 1|}} {{BS3||KRWlf|extSTRlg|||||}} {{BS3||tSTR|extSTR||[[Southern Cross Station|To Southern Cross Station]]|||}} {{BS3|||extHST||'''''Arden''''' (Proposed)||Zone 1|}} {{BS3|||extHST||'''''Parkville''''' (Proposed)||Zone 1|}} {{BS3|||extBHF||'''''CBD North''''' (Proposed, interchange with [[Melbourne Central railway station|Melbourne Central]])||Zone 1|}} {{BS3|||extBHF||'''''CBD South''''' (Proposed, interchange with [[Flinders Street Station|Flinders Street]])||Zone 1|}} {{BS3|||extHST||'''''Domain''''' (Proposed, interchange with [[Domain Road tram interchange]])||Zone 1|}} {{BS3|||exLUECKE||Unplanned stage two||||}} {{BS3||tSTR|extSTR||[[Flinders Street Station|To Flinders Street]]|||}} {{BS3||ABZrg|extSTRrf|||||}} {{BS3||BHF||10.6km|'''''[[Caulfield railway station|Caulfield]]''''' (CFD)||Zone 1|}} {{BS3||tSTR|||Cranbourne, Frankston and Pakenham lines|||}} |} |} ==External links== *[http://www4.transport.vic.gov.au/vtp/pdfs/melb_metro_rail.pdf Map of the proposed metro network] (PDF) *[http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,26046927-2862,00.html 'Under City Rail Plan to cut Melbourne Congestion' - Herald Sun 9 Nov 2008] *[http://www4.transport.vic.gov.au/vtp/photos/metro.html Artist Impressions of metro stations] {{Melbourne}} {{MelbournePublicTransport}} {{coord missing|Victoria (Australia)}}