Melbourne's Metro Rail Tunnel may not be fully operational when it opens, with report two stations are behind schedule
The Victorian Government has backed down from initial denials that Melbourne's $15 billion Metro Rail Tunnel project would not be fully operational when it opens at the end of the year.
Nine newspapers have reported some train services will run through the nine-kilometre twin tunnels this year but peak hour services would divert to the City Loop until early 2026, despite the project being spruiked as opening this year.
The report suggested the delay was due to construction of two of the project's five underground stations – Town Hall and State Library – failing to meet completion deadlines.
Government frontbencher Steve Dimopoulos fronted the media on Saturday morning and initially said the report was wrong.
But, when pushed by further questioning, changed his stance to suggest the article was 'pre-emptive'.
'We haven't landed the timetable,' Mr Dimopoulos said.
Mr Dimopoulos said he did not expect any disappointment from commuters if services were not to run at full capacity.
'If you think of the complexity here … I don't think people are going to be anything but overjoyed when they walk through those five stations.
'This is a huge project, that's what I think people will be embracing.'
He took a shot at the anonymous sources the newspaper article was based on.
'Anonymity comes with a lack of responsibility.'
Metro Rail has notched up hundreds of millions of dollars in cost blow-outs and there were already known issues with station construction, including a shortage of construction workers, supply chain constraints and disruptions caused by COVID-19, that had pushed back the opening date from March 2025 to as far as the new year.
Mr Dimopoulos said that deferred completion date should not be seen as a delay.
'When the government announced it in 2015 and you go back to those records, the premier then said it would be open in late 2026," he said.
"It'll be open by the end of this year so it's a year early.'
Opposition leader Brad Battin said the government had implied the project would be fully operational by this year..
"No one knows when it's going to open, no one knows which stations will open and no one knows how many trains will be able to go through during peak and off-peak times," he said.
Mr Battin called on the government to guarantee it would not pay the builders any bonuses if they failed to complete the full project by the end of the year.
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