Melbourne’s rail network is on the brink of its biggest shake-up in four decades, and the people at the helm are getting ready to roll. Nearly 500 drivers are now fully trained and ready to ferry passengers through Melbourne’s brand-new Metro Tunnel – on track to open later this year, a full year ahead of schedule.
The landmark project will introduce twin tunnels and five shiny new underground stations – Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac – reshaping how Melburnians move across the city. If the City Loop revolutionised urban travel back in the 1980s, the Metro Tunnel is gearing up to be this generation’s game-changer.
Around 100 fresh recruits signed on in 2022 to get things moving, diving into an intensive 44-week program of classroom sessions, simulator runs and real-world training. Since then, drivers have spent thousands of hours behind the controls, logging more than 265,000 kilometres in test journeys – that’s the equivalent of circling the globe six times.
It’s not just drivers stepping up. More than 200 station staff, from station masters to station assistants, are being trained to ensure the new stations run smoothly and safely when doors finally open. Those doors, by the way, are Victoria’s first-ever platform screen doors – just one of the many state-of-the-art features that travellers can expect alongside new high capacity Metro Trains and cutting-edge signalling systems.
“The Metro Tunnel will do what the City Loop did in the 1980s – transform the way people move around Melbourne and make room for more trains, more often,” says Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams.
So, what does all this mean for you? More trains, more often, less crush on the daily commute and faster links through the city. In short: getting around Melbourne is about to get a whole lot easier.
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