Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel will open to passengers in early December, with trains stopping at all five new stations.
Services through the tunnel will run mainly between West Footscray (on the Sunbury Line) and Westall (on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines), with some longer services on weekends.
The opening will be a “soft launch” with services running for five hours a day between Westall and West Footscray from Monday to Friday, every 20 minutes from 10am to 3pm.
On weekends, trains will run about every 20 minutes between Westall and West Footscray from around 10am to 7pm.
Services will operate about every 40 minutes from East Pakenham and about every 60 minutes from Sunbury.
These services will run alongside the existing timetable, allowing passengers on the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury lines to choose between existing services and a Metro Tunnel service.
A new timetable and broader network changes will be introduced early next year, when Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury Line services will come out of the City Loop and run exclusively through the Metro Tunnel.
There will also be major changes to the public transport timetable including over 1000 new weekly services added on the Sunbury Line, and over 100 new weekly services added to the Cranbourne and Pakenham timetable.
Frankston Line trains will return to the City Loop, while Werribee and Williamstown line services will run direct to and from Flinders Street.
This increase in services means passengers from West Footscray to Dandenong will have a train at least every 10 minutes all day, every day of the week.
Peak services will be on average every three to four minutes for passengers between Watergardens and Dandenong.
For now, the existing Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham line services will continue as previously, with these lines running through the City Loop on the current timetable.
This means there is no change in service for people on those lines unless they choose to switch to Metro Tunnel services at an interchange station, such as Caulfield, Malvern, Footscray, Flinders Street or Melbourne Central, from December.
The same applies to passengers travelling on all other lines. Nothing changes – except they will have the option to change to a Metro Tunnel service at Flinders Street or Melbourne Central.
The Victorian Governments said that staggering the opening of the Metro Tunnel and the new timetable allows time to “bed down” the new infrastructure, technology and procedures.
“It also enables the stations to open soon after safety approval has taken place and gives passengers a chance to familiarise themselves with the Metro Tunnel and the five new stations, in preparation for the major network change,” a press release reads.
Chief Executive of the Public Transport Association of Australia and New Zealand (PTAANZ) Lauren Streifer congratulated the Victorian Government on the completion of this major project, while highlighting the importance of continued investment in network-wide capacity and service improvement.
“The opening of the Metro Tunnel is a landmark moment for Melbourne, delivering substantial benefits for passengers across the city,” she said.
“Delivering infrastructure of this scale takes vision and courage and the Victorian Government should be commended for its investment in a project that will benefit Victorians for generations.
“The new stations are state-of-the-art, combining safety, design excellence and cutting-edge technology and the entire project is an extraordinary engineering achievement.”
She added that most importantly, the Metro Tunnel means more frequent services, fewer delays and a more reliable network, which will encourage more people to make public transport their first choice.
“Every trip shifted from private vehicles to public transport is a step towards a more sustainable, liveable Melbourne and the Metro Tunnel is just the beginning.”
The opening of the Metro Tunnel will be the biggest network change in Melbourne since the City Loop opened 40 years ago.
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