No ticket to ride: $15b train line to open to fanfare

Train fanatics and curious city dwellers will be clamoring to use the $15 billion rail line, which opened after more than a decade of planning and construction.

Regular services will start from the Melbourne Metro Tunnel on Sunday, stopping at five new metro stations with platform screen doors and shops.

The first public journey is scheduled to depart Sunbury Station in the city’s outer north-west at 9.28am, arriving at Arden Station at 10.09am and then proceeding to Parkville, the State Library, Town Hall and Anzac stations.

The 9km twin tunnels are opening for a soft launch, operating on the existing City Loop timetable for the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.

During the “early summer” period, Metro Tunnel services will operate every 20 minutes between Westall and West Footscray on weekdays from 10am to 3pm, and every 20 minutes from 10am to 7pm on weekends.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen expects people to flock to take a look on opening day but said most Melburnians would not immediately include it in their regular travels.

“It’s clear that five new metro stations are not something that happens every day,” he told AAP.

“It’s a trial, but having to wait 20 minutes for the train instead of five or 10 minutes means you won’t see the Metro Tunnel at its best yet.”

Passengers will no longer need a myki card, with travel on the network free every weekend from Sunday 1 February, when three lines are cut from the City Loop and the tunnel’s roundtrip timetable comes into effect.

Mr Bowen has tipped Parkville and Anzac stations to take pressure off the tram network, with Arden station laying the groundwork for the North Melbourne region to eventually become a hotspot for housing development and employment.

Over time, benefits are expected to be provided to passengers on other train lines by reducing City Loop congestion and adding more services.

The construction of Melbourne’s second underground railway line has been planned for a long time.

Monash University professor and public transport policy expert Graham Currie built a central rail tunnel in November 2005.

The Melbourne Metro rail tunnel was part of the Brumby government’s 2008 Victoria Transport Plan, with scope and route changes being made before the final design was determined in the 2016 business case.

Various cost increases increased the price tag to taxpayers from the original estimate of $10.9 billion to $13.48 billion.

When extra payments from builders are taken into account, the total project bill is over $15 billion.

Mr Bowen acknowledged there were detours along the way but argued the tunnel would provide benefits worth its huge cost.

“This is the kind of investment you need to make in a city to keep things moving and people to be able to get around,” he said.

“The City Loop was also once incredibly expensive, but I don’t think anyone doubts the benefits it brought to Melbourne.

“I suspect over time people will view the Metro Tunnel the same way.”