Two major metro rail projects in Victoria have marked key milestones as the designs for one station are revealed and three new stations are completed.
Victoria’s Big Build has released the final designs for Mordialloc Station, part of the ongoing Level Crossing Removal Project.
A number of stations have been built to elevate or bury train stations and create clear paths for road traffic and space for additional development in key suburbs.
The final designs for the new Mordialloc Station include safety and amenity features and allow the removal of three level crossings.
Early works have begun on the site to build rail bridges that will elevate the station and line as well as removal of crossings at McDonald Street, Mordialloc and Station Street, Aspendale.
The Bear Street crossing at Mordialloc will also be closed.
There will be new entrances, modern facilities, better accessibility and public spaces as well as more than 1000 trees and 85,000 plants including native species planted along Station Street as part of the project.
The existing Mordialloc Station building and a historic water tower will be retained.
The new station is expected to open in 2026 and major works are scheduled to start in the next few months.
The project is part of plans to remove all level crossings on the Frankston Line.
Keys to the first three completed stations in the Metro Tunnel project have been handed to the Victorian Government ahead of the tunnel opening scheduled for this year.
Metro Trains staff will now run day-to-day operation trials at Parkville Station as rail workers start moving into Arden and Anzac stations to manage the stations’ assets and systems.
Trains have now travelled more than 100,000km in the Metro Tunnel since mid-2023 to test equipment and systems.
As well, testing and trials are under way along the future continuous line from Sunbury to Cranbourne and Pakenham with disruptions scheduled for mid-April.
Construction is also progressing on the Town Hall and State Library stations under Melbourne’s CBD.
The Metro Tunnel is Melbourne’s biggest train network upgrade since the City Loop opened in 1981 and will include five new underground stations.
The first tracks have been laid for the Sydney Metro—Western Sydney Airport line as the 23km metro railway, connecting to the new airport, takes shape.
The first portion of track was laid at Luddenham, just north of a new rail bridge that will take metro services over the future M12 motorway.
Track laying is progressing northwards towards St Marys.
A team of up to 60 workers is laying from 70m to 100m of track per day.
More than 6400 tonnes of Australian-made rail steel will be laid along the line between St Marys and Bradfield for the project, which is to be completed by the middle of next year.
In total, 106.8km of rail and 76,285 sleepers will be laid, including at the stabling and maintenance facility at Orchard Hills.
Each 20m section of rail steel is manufactured in South Australia and then shipped to Newcastle before being trucked to a purpose-built rail laydown yard at Luddenham South.
