The Metro Tunnel will open in early December, delivering hundreds of new services each week. The Summer Start programme will commence at opening, followed by the Big Switch network wide timetable integration on 1 February.
During Summer Start, services will run seven days a week and stop at all five new underground stations Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac. Monday to Friday services will run every 20 minutes from 10.00am to 3.00pm between Westall and West Footscray. On weekends, services will run every 20 minutes from 10.00am to 7.00pm between Westall and West Footscray, every 40 minutes from East Pakenham, and every 60 minutes from Sunbury. This adds more than 240 extra services each week.
Existing services on these lines will continue via the City Loop during Summer Start. Passengers can interchange at Footscray and Caulfield, with other lines unchanged. Passengers can change at Flinders Street or Melbourne Central without tapping on or off.
From 1 February, the Big Switch will fully integrate the tunnel with the wider network, delivering about 1,000 new weekly services. Trains will run at least every 10 minutes between Watergardens and Dandenong from 6.00am to 9.00pm, with average three-to-four-minute frequencies in the peak. Frankston line services will return to the City Loop. The new timetable will apply across buses, trams, and regional and metropolitan trains.
This is the biggest transformation of Melbourne’s rail network in more than 40 years, freeing capacity in the City Loop.
