Suburban Rail Loop East awarded construction contract

The Victorian government has awarded the main tunnelling and civil works contract for the Suburban Rail Loop East section to a consortium led by Webuild and CPB Contractors, marking the start of full construction on the largest public transport project ever undertaken in Australia.

The Suburban Rail Loop East will connect Cheltenham to Box Hill via nine new underground stations, passing through Southland, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood, and Deakin. The line will allow passengers travelling between these stations to bypass the CBD entirely for the first time, with connections at both termini to the existing Frankston and Ringwood lines.

Premier Jacinta Allan said the project would transform mobility for more than 1.5 million residents in Melbourne's south-eastern and eastern suburbs, who currently face long and often indirect journeys between major employment and education centres. "This is a project that will reshape how Melbourne functions for the next 100 years," she said.

The tunnelling contract covers the 26-kilometre twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Box Hill, requiring tunnel boring machines operating simultaneously from four different launch sites. The civil works component includes the underground station boxes and cut-and-cover sections at each terminus. The main contract is valued at approximately $14 billion.

Construction of the stations and above-ground works will be the subject of separate contracts to be released over the coming 18 months. The first section of the loop is projected to open in the late 2030s.

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