The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East project has taken a major step forward, with construction beginning at the site of the new underground station in Clayton.
Suburban Connect crews will soon start excavating the underground station area, building the passenger connection to the existing Clayton station and underpinning one of the support piers of the elevated rail line.
This will ensure trains can keep running on the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Gippsland lines during construction and support the load above the SRL East tunnels.
As part of the works, buses will replace trains between Parliament and Westall stations from late August to early September.
Coaches will also replace Gippsland line V/Line trains between Southern Cross and East Pakenham.
SRL East is the first stage of the SRL project, with 26 kilometres of twin tunnels running from Cheltenham to Box Hill and connecting six new underground stations.
When SRL East is complete, Clayton will be a “transport super hub”, with trains in four directions, connecting the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Gippsland lines to SRL.
Tunnelling will begin next year, with the first trains set to take passengers in 2035.
A new report released by SRL transport planners has shown that commuters will save up to 40 minutes on their commute when SRL East opens.
Students travelling from Cheltenham to Deakin University in Burwood or to Monash University in Clayton on the SRL will arrive 40 minutes faster than they would using existing public transport routes.
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