Suburban Rail Loop East moves closer to tunnelling as crews dig the 19.5-metre-deep launch site where four TBMs will begin boring later this year.
The Suburban Rail Loop has reached another construction milestone with excavation now underway at the tunnel boring machine launch site in Clarinda.
The site will serve as the starting point for four TBMs tasked with digging 16 kilometres of twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley, the southern section of SRL East. All four machines are expected to launch later this year.
Excavation has begun on the eastern side of the Clarinda site, which will reach a final depth of around 19.5 metres. Work on the western side is set to follow shortly, with crews currently completing ground preparation. Between February and March, nearly 1,000 cubic metres of concrete was poured at the site using a mix designed to reduce carbon emissions.
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Suburban Rail Loop East tunnelling on track for 2026
Crews dig deeper at the Suburban Rail Loop’s Clarinda TBM launch site, where four tunnel boring machines will begin their journey toward Cheltenham and Glen Waverley. Image: Victoria’s Big Build
The Clarinda launch site is one of two locations from which TBMs will bore the 26 kilometres of twin tunnels that make up SRL East. Construction of the second launch site at Burwood — where four TBMs will tunnel toward Glen Waverley and Box Hill — is already complete and ready for boring to begin.
When finished, SRL East will deliver six new underground stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill, connecting four major rail corridors and providing direct train access to Monash and Deakin universities for the first time.
Melbourne’s biggest transport project continues to scale
More than 3,000 workers are already on site across all six station locations, with major construction progressing at each precinct. The Victorian government says passengers will be travelling on the line by 2035.
The project extends well beyond transport. SRL East is expected to deliver thousands of new homes within walking distance of the six station precincts, with draft structure plans for station neighbourhoods currently under public consultation. The wider Suburban Rail Loop network, once complete, will span 90 kilometres of orbital rail connecting major train lines from the Frankston line through to Werribee via Melbourne Airport.
All eight TBMs powering SRL East will run on 100 per cent renewable electricity. Two of the machines were repurposed from Sydney Metro, while four were manufactured in Zhengzhou by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group.
How Melbourne’s newest tunnel boring machines will work
A Suburban Rail Loop TBM bearing Wurundjeri artwork is assembled at the Burwood launch site ahead of tunnelling between Glen Waverley and Box Hill. Image: Victoria’s Big Build
The four TBMs launching from Clarinda are convertible machines capable of switching between slurry and earth pressure balance mode, a Victorian first designed to handle the softer ground conditions expected around Cheltenham. The southern tunnelling package is being delivered by Suburban Connect, a consortium of CPB Contractors, Ghella and Acciona Construction.
Each machine stretches more than 100 metres in length and over seven metres in diameter. Two of the four were repurposed from Sydney Metro, while the other pair were manufactured in Zhengzhou by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group. All will run on 100 per cent renewable electricity.
Following a tradition dating back to the 1500s, each of the eight SRL East TBMs has been named after a notable woman, with local primary school students along the corridor selecting the namesakes. Among them are music producer Alice Ivy, Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung Elder Aunty Muriel Bamblett and celebrity chef Elizabeth Chong.
Part of a broader transport overhaul
The Clarinda excavation milestone arrives as Melbourne undergoes a period of significant rail expansion. The Metro Tunnel opened its five new underground stations in late 2025, delivering more than 1,000 additional weekly services across the network. Construction on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link also broke ground earlier this year, with the Sunshine Superhub rebuild now underway.
Once SRL East is operational, the Victorian government estimates travel times on some routes will drop by up to 40 minutes. A student travelling from Cheltenham to Deakin University’s Burwood campus, for instance, would complete the trip in 19 minutes by public transport. The line is also expected to support the delivery of 70,000 new homes across the six station precincts.
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