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Melbourne to face years of major traffic woes amid construction of new metro rail network: gov't

Xinhua, May 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia's second largest city can expect "years of major disruptions" on its metro rail network after the Victorian state government announced details of a major train tunnel on Wednesday.

Melbourne's city square is expected to become a construction site for several years, while up to 1,000 trees will be cut down and public space acquired for the city's Melbourne Metro Rail Project, the Environmental Effects Statement (EES) for the development revealed.

The project incorporates up to nine kilometers of underground rail lines, while five new stations are set to be built underground.

The state's Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the short-term pain of construction sites and increased traffic was necessary to make Melbourne a more efficient city in the future.

"Building the Metro Tunnel will have a huge impact on Melbourne for many years but it will be worth it for the extra services it brings, and the better city it creates," Allan said in a statement released on Wednesday.

State's Premier Daniel Andrews said the project would further stake Melbourne's claim of being a world city with world-class public transport, as the new metro rail network would benefit the city for "decades".

"The Metro Tunnel is the biggest transport project in Australia. There will be years of disruption getting it done, but the benefits for Melbourne will last for decades," Andrews said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Just like London, New York, and Tokyo, the Metro Tunnel will give us the turn-up-and-go services a world class City needs."

The Metro Rail project is set to increase the efficiency and capacity of Melbourne's train network through bypassing the existing city loop tunnel.

The government said the new tunnel would deliver a 45 percent boost to capacity in the existing loop which is almost at capacity by diverting three train lines into the new tunnel.

Work on the project is expected to begin in 2018 and finish by 2026. Endit