Melbourne’s AUD 15b Metro Tunnel opens smoothly, marking city’s biggest rail upgrade in decades

The Melbourne Metro Tunnel—one of the city’s largest and most transformative infrastructure projects in 40 years—opened last week to widespread public praise following a smooth first week of operations.

Costing nearly AUD 15 billion (approximately HK$77 billion), the 9-kilometer twin-tube tunnel runs beneath Melbourne’s Central Business District and introduces five new stations to the city’s rail network.

Built by the local government and operated by Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM), a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation, the tunnel is designed to create a new cross-city rail line using high-capacity trains and advanced signaling technology.

The new infrastructure is expected to significantly ease congestion on the City Loop—Melbourne’s busiest rail corridor—while boosting the network’s weekly passenger capacity by more than 500,000 trips.

David Tang, Property and International Business Director of MTR Corporation, expressed satisfaction with the tunnel’s strong launch.

“We are delighted to see the successful opening of the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, which offers passengers a more comfortable and convenient travel experience,” he said. Tang added that MTR is honored to contribute its global railway expertise to such a landmark project.

He also revealed that in preparation for the tunnel’s commissioning, MTM conducted more than 1.5 million kilometers of testing and trial operations, accompanied by extensive training programs for both train drivers and station staff.

Rooted in Hong Kong and expanding abroad, MTR continues to explore international growth opportunities. The corporation first entered the Melbourne market in 2009 when MTM secured an eight-year operations and maintenance franchise, later extended twice.

Today, Melbourne’s suburban railway network carries about 230 million passenger journeys per year, and its punctuality rate has risen from 86 percent at the time of handover to 92 percent.