Suburban Rail Loop will shape our city and state for future generations, ensuring Melbourne remains one of the world’s most liveable cities.
The 90km Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) will link every major rail line from the Frankston line to the Werribee line, via Melbourne Airport, improving access to housing, jobs, schools, universities and hospitals for all Victorians.
SRL East between Cheltenham and Box Hill will deliver huge benefits to those in Melbourne’s east, south east and regional Victoria, with faster and more reliable public transport and greater access to jobs, health and education.
SRL East includes new underground stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill, and will be built as a standalone 26km rail line integrated with the existing public transport network.
SRL East will slash travel times, create new jobs and housing closer to home, deliver more direct journeys for regional Victorians and enhance walking, cycling and green spaces.
SRL will be delivered in stages and construction on SRL East began in June 2022. SRL East trains will be running by 2035, taking around 70,000 passengers per day.
SRL East at Burwood
Located near Deakin University and connecting with existing tram and bus services, the new SRL East station will make it easier and faster to access the area’s parkland, education and retail services.
The new underground SRL East station at Burwood will better connect students, deliver faster and more reliable public transport, and better connectivity to stations on the metropolitan network.
The station will integrate with local tram and bus services, including the route 75 tram – connecting more people to jobs, health services and study opportunities in one of Melbourne’s fastest growing education institutions.
Benefits for Burwood
- Better and more direct connections to health, jobs and leading education facilities, including Deakin University
- More jobs closer to where people live. Employment in Burwood will double to 24,000 jobs as a result of SRL
- Opportunities to build on and enhance recreation spaces, plazas and community facilities, including the naturalisation of Gardiners Creek Reserve
- Upgrading and extending the Gardiners Creek trail, connecting people to the places they love most in Burwood
* Photography by Dianna Snape
A new station at Burwood
The new station at Burwood will be located adjacent to Deakin University and close to the Gardiners Creek Trail and Burwood Highway, with a single station entrance facing the university.
The new station’s 94m long platform will sit around 18m below ground, with lifts and escalators connecting passengers to SRL’s ‘turn up and go’ train services.
A new tram stop right outside the station on Burwood Highway, near Deakin University, will make interchanges quick and easy, providing a new rail connection for local workers, students and residents.
A new pedestrian overpass across Burwood Highway will provide safe and uninterrupted connectivity between the station and Deakin University, as well as improved links to Gardiners Creek trail and nearby schools.
There will be accessible pick up and drop off areas, taxi bays and up to 750 bicycle parking spaces located nearby.
Fast Facts
- From Burwood to Box Hill in 3 minutes
- ‘Turn up and go’ services every 6 minutes
- Transporting around 13,000 passengers from Burwood daily
- More than 600,000 car trips off roads and freeways every day
Station construction
Construction of the SRL station at Burwood will be completed in stages and is expected to take approximately 7 years.
Disruption at surface level is expected to be shorter than the overall construction time.
Construction stages and activities include:
- Initial Works to prepare the site, such as utility relocations
- Early Works involving demolition of existing structures, earthworks to prepare the site, flood management measures and establishment of tunnel access shafts
- Main Works, which involves excavation of the station box and using a bottom-up technique to build internal structures and building the station structures
- Construction of the pedestrian overpass across Burwood Highway. The overpass structure will be assembled offsite and installed using a crane
- Station completion including any road and path upgrades, incorporation of public open space and planting and landscaping.
SRL station footprint
Text description of station footprint
Green light for SRL East
The environmental effects for SRL East have been assessed through Victoria’s most comprehensive and transparent planning approvals process – an Environment Effects Statement (EES). The project received planning approvals in September 2022.
SRL East’s EES received more than 360 submissions and saw an independent panel hear from 47 witnesses over 39 days of public hearings and it has resulted in enhanced measures and outcomes that will benefit the community during construction and operation.
The EES was Victoria’s first fully digital EES and will remain online for the life of the project as a reference document.
Sinnott Street Reserve replacement park
Sinnott Street Reserve, including the Burwood Skyline Drive-in playground and community barbeque facilities, will be closed to the public from 2023 while we build the new underground station at Burwood for SRL East.
We understand the value of this reserve to the local community. We have secured a nearby location next to an existing linear reserve to provide a replacement park with modern recreational amenities.
The replacement park will serve the community for up to 10 years while we deliver works in the area.
The replacement park will be in place prior to closure of the existing Sinnott Street Reserve facilities.
Planning approval for SRL East
Following extensive planning and design work, SRL East received planning approvals in September 2022.
The assessment of the SRL East Environment Effects Statement recognised that the project will bring enormous benefits to Melbourne and has resulted in enhanced measures and outcomes that will benefit the community during construction and operation.
At Burwood, these changes include:
- Naturalisation of Gardiners Creek, with the possible extension of the works south to be considered as part of future precinct planning
- Upgrades to the Gardiners Creek Trail on the north side of Burwood Highway, including addressing the grade problem with the slope of the path raised by stakeholders during the EES process
- Strengthening of measures to reduce impacts from construction works for local residents and businesses
- Further assessing the transport network arrangements around the new SRL East station, including optimising the quantity and location of pick-up and drop-off parking areas and bus interchange.
What’s next for SRL East?
Construction of SRL East kicked off in June 2022, with Initial Works underway to prepare sites for major construction by 2024.
Initial Works are planned at Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood, Box Hill and at the site of the stabling facility in Heatherton.
Activities are similar to routine infrastructure maintenance and renewal works that happen in our suburbs every day, and involve:
- Relocating and protecting utilities such as gas, electrical, water, sewer and telecommunications services
- Minor road modifications
- Site levelling and ground improvement works
- Establishing the construction sites.
To support construction, there will be temporary facilities set up along the alignment. These will include site offices and worker amenities, car parking, gates, entries and exits, fencing, equipment storage, and environmental, traffic and safety controls.
Dedicated residential and business support team members will be onsite and moving around the area to ensure community are informed and supported throughout construction.
Initial Works in Burwood are expected to start in early 2023. Residents and businesses will continue to be informed well in advance of any works starting and impacts such as noise, dust, light and vibration will be clearly communicated.
- 2020 – $2.2b provided for Initial & Early Works
- 2021 – EES exhibited late 2021
$9.3b provided for SRL East Main Works, I&EW contract signed - 2022 – Initial and Early Works commenced
- 2024 – Main Works start for SRL East
- Mid 2020s – Precinct development to commence, with a focus on SRL East
- 2035 – Trains running by 2035 on SRL East
*Ongoing community and stakeholder engagement
More than a rail line
Beyond the rail line, SRL includes strategic land planning and development initiatives in SRL Precincts that will attract and support clusters of new businesses and deliver better local services and additional housing.
SRL will open up exciting prospects for new recreation spaces and community facilities, as well as improved walking and cycling links that will make Burwood an even more attractive and vibrant place to live, work and study. Plans include landscaping improvements and enhancements to the Gardiners Creek corridor.
Get involved
Since mid-2019, we’ve been speaking with community members online and face to face to understand what locals love most about their areas and how SRL East can help further enhance neighbourhoods.
Feedback from the people who know SRL East precincts best is very important throughout all stages of planning and development.
There will be many opportunities for you to get involved and contribute your ideas on how we can make areas around SRL East stations even better places to live, study, work and visit.
