Melbourne, capital of Australia’s Victoria state, has unveiled plans for a US$4.58bn rail tunnel from Brunswick to Windsor as part of a trio of rail schemes in a 15-year rail strategy, Moving People and Freight.
The tunnel would include three new underground stations at Parkville, Carlton and Domain. City authorities believe the rail tunnel would be financed through state and federal government funding.
State transport minister Peter Batchelor said the state authorities would look at the plans. Government would consider the council plan in the future.
The rail tunnel was announced about two months after a consortium led by National Australia Bank proposed to build a 4km rail tunnel to bury a section of Melbourne’s Glen Waverley railway line. In its proposal to the state government, the group, which included Macquarie Bank, Thiess, consulting engineer Sinclair Knight Merz and British architect Nicholas Grimshaw, planned four new underground stations. These would replace existing at-grade stations.
