City Loop

City Loop
Platform at Melbourne Central station in the City Loop, February 2026
Overview
Owner	VicTrack
Stations	3
Service
Services	All suburban lines except Sunbury, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Sandringham, Werribee and Williamstown line trains
Operator(s)	Victorian Railways (1981–1983) Metropolitan Transit Authority (1983–1989) Public Transport Corporation (1989–1997) Bayside Trains (1997–2004) Hillside Trains (1997–2009) Metro Trains Melbourne (2009–present)
History
Commenced	1971
Opened	1981
Completed	1985
Technical
Number of tracks	2 single bidirectional tunnels Flinders Street – Parliament 4 single bidirectional tunnels Parliament – Flagstaff 3 single bidirectional tunnels Flagstaff – Southern Cross
Character	Underground
Electrification	1,500 V DC overhead catenary
Route map Bold stations are City Loop stations Legend Metro Tunnel Northern group State Library Flagstaff Melbourne Central Southern Cross Parliament Town Hall Flinders Street Viaduct Clifton Hill group Flinders Street Burnley & Caulfield groups This diagram: view talk edit

The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a piece of underground metropolitan rail infrastructure in the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The loop includes four single-track rail tunnels and three underground stations: Flagstaff, Melbourne Central (formerly Museum) and Parliament. The loop connects to Melbourne's two busiest stations, Flinders Street and Southern Cross, and together with the Flinders Street Viaduct forms a ring of four individual tracks around the CBD.

Eleven metropolitan lines of the Melbourne rail network run through the City Loop, organised into four separate groups, the Burnley, Caulfield, Clifton Hill/City Circle, and Northern groups. Each group has its own dedicated single-track tunnel, with trains running on balloon loops around the CBD. The Loop follows La Trobe and Spring Streets along the northern and eastern edges of the CBD's street grid.

Although concepts for an underground railway had been raised since the 1920s, planning was not seriously progressed until the 1960s. The 1970 Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Act finalised the design and established an authority to oversee construction of the project. Tunnelling works began in 1972 and the Loop commenced operation in 1981 with the opening of Museum station, now Melbourne Central. The loop was fully complete in 1985 with the opening of Flagstaff station.

The Metro Tunnel, a new rail tunnel under the CBD built to relieve pressure on the City Loop, began operating following a soft-open on 30 November 2025. From 1 February 2026, the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury metropolitan lines were fully removed from the Loop to full-time through the Metro Tunnel, while the Frankston line returned to the Caulfield loop tunnel.^[1] As a result of this, the Sandringham lines will through-run with the Werribee/Williamstown lines.

Before the City Loop was constructed, Flinders Street and Spencer Street (now called Southern Cross) stations were connected only by the four track Flinders Street Viaduct beside the Yarra River. The suburban terminus of Flinders Street had become seriously congested by the 1970s, with a throughput of only ten trains per platform per hour (roughly 1,700 trains a day) — compared to a maximum of 24 if there was through running.^[2] Many trains were through routed from the southern and eastern suburbs to the north and west, but the flow was imbalanced and a number of trains were required to reverse their direction.^[2] The Epping and Hurstbridge lines stood alone from the rest of the network, having Princes Bridge station for their own exclusive use.

Several plans had been proposed over the preceding decades to alleviate the bottleneck. The one that was adopted was the building of a circular railway allowing trains to continue past Flinders Street, loop around and return to the suburbs. It was expected to boost platform capacity, allowing more trains per platform per hour on the same number of Flinders Street platforms. The loop would also bring train commuters directly into the northern and eastern sections of the CBD, delivering workers closer to their offices, students closer to RMIT University, and government officials directly to the Parliament buildings. Although the city's tram network already covered the CBD extensively, trams are not as efficient as trains when bringing large numbers of commuters into the city.

Plans for an underground city railway in Melbourne are almost as old as electrification of the network itself. In 1929, the Metropolitan Town Planning Commission released a report recommending an underground city bypass from Richmond to North Melbourne stations via Exhibition and Victoria streets.^[3] The 1940 Victorian Railways Ashworth Improvement Plan recommended a different approach, with additional platforms at the Flinders Street/Princes Bridge station complex to be built over two levels, along with a connection to an underground City Railway.^[4] The Victorian Railways promoted another route in 1950 as part of the Operation Phoenix rehabilitation plan, the line running from Richmond towards Jolimont station, under the Fitzroy Gardens and Lonsdale Street then turning north to North Melbourne station. A branch line turned north from William Street, and went through the Flagstaff Gardens.^[5] In 1954 the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works released their Planning Scheme for Melbourne report, which included the Richmond – North Melbourne Lonsdale Street route.^[3]

A Parliamentary Committee on Public Works reported favourably on a city loop in 1954, and in 1958 a City Underground Railway Committee was appointed by the Transport Minister. It stated bluntly that the aim of the loop was not just to relieve crowding at Flinders Street, but to win back patronage from private cars, and if it did not then the project was a waste of time and resources.^[6] The plan included four stations, being cut to the present three by the elimination of one under Latrobe Street.^[2]

The 'City of Melbourne Underground Railway Construction Act' was passed in 1960, and test bores were sunk by the Mines Department in 1961, but no funding was provided. Throughout the next few years many proposals were made for providing more car parking in the city, so in 1963 the Government set up the Metropolitan Transportation Committee to look at both road and rail transport. It released a report in 1965 that included the same rail plan as the 1960 Act.^[7]

Following the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan, the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Act 1970 was introduced into parliament by Transport Minister Vernon Wilcox, and the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Authority (MURLA) was created on 1 January 1971 to oversee the construction and operation of the loop. The City of Melbourne, the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works and the Victorian Railways all made annual contributions to support the operating costs of the authority.^[7] An unsuccessful request for funding was made to the Federal Government.^[2]

The project was financed using debentures, with the State Government paying 60% of the cost and a special city levy from 1963 funding the remainder. The levy was supposed to be in place for forty years (until 2003), but was ended in 1995.^[7] A consortium of four engineering companies was established to construct the project: one from Australia, one from the United Kingdom, one from Canada and one from the United States of America. On 22 June 1971, the first sod of the project was turned by Wilcox in the middle of the Jolimont rail yards.^[8][9][10]

Tunnelling works under the city streets commenced in June 1972, using a tunnel boring machine built by Richmond engineering firm Jaques Limited.^[11] as well as conventional boring methods. At North Melbourne, Spencer Street and Jolimont Yard, cut and cover tunnelling was used to build the access ramps, with the above ground running lines being slewed from time to time as work proceeded. The first completed tunnel was the Burnley Loop, with the final breakthrough made on 8 June 1977 near the Museum station site.^[10]

The loop comprises four single-track tunnels on two levels, and includes +four pre-existing elevated tracks between Flinders Street and Spencer Street stations. A new double track concrete viaduct was erected beside the existing quadruple track Flinders Street Viaduct in order to replace capacity for non-loop trains. Construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1978.^[10] Of the three new stations, Museum was built using the cut and cover method in a 26-metre-deep (85 ft 4 in) box,^[10] while Flagstaff and Parliament were excavated using mining methods. During the excavation of Museum station, La Trobe Street and its tram tracks were temporarily relocated to the south onto the site of what is now the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre from December 1973, and were moved back in 1978.^[10]

The total length of tunnels in the loop is 12 km (7.5 mi) with 10 km (6.2 mi) of circular tunnels, and 2 km (1.2 mi) of box tunnels. The four tunnels have an average length of 3.74 km (2.32 mi), with a further 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) of track connecting with surface tracks. Some 900,000 m³ (1,177,156 yd³) of earth was removed and 300,000 m³ (392,385 yd³) of concrete poured to form the stations and line the tunnel walls.^[12]

A "double sleeper" floating track system was used to solve the problem of ground-transmitted vibration and track noise, and the loop has some of the best-designed and quietest underground stations in the world.^[7] At the time of its construction, Parliament station had the Southern Hemisphere's longest escalators.^[13]

Traction power was turned on in October 1980,^[14] and the first test train ran on 4 December 1980.^[15][16] In 1965, the cost of the project had been estimated at between £30 and £35 million but, by 1975, inflation had resulted in it rising to $255,600,000.^[7] While the final cost was $500 million, the opening of the loop helped reverse a 30-year trend of falling suburban rail patronage.^[13]

Queen Elizabeth II toured Museum station during her visit to Australia in May 1980, and opened the plaza on top of the Swanston Street entrance, which was named Queen Elizabeth Plaza.^[17] Two short documentary films, Loop and Action Loop, were commissioned by the MURLA to advertise the new railway to Melburnians, as well as abroad.^[14] A third film was planned, but never shot.^[14]

The loop was opened gradually between 1981 and 1985. Museum station and the Burnley and Caulfield tunnels opened first, on 24 January 1981.^[14][18] The City Circle tunnel opened with special services on 6 December 1981, and Clifton Hill services started using the loop on 31 October 1982. Parliament station opened on 22 January 1983, the Northern tunnel on 7 January 1985 (14 January 1985 with limited services) and Flagstaff station on 27 May 1985.^[14]

In 2021, seven-car High Capacity Metro Trains were introduced to the City Loop on the Caulfield tunnel.^[19] As part of that, signalling infrastructure was altered and operations of the Caulfield loop were changed to run consistently anti-clockwise around the loop all-day, every day.^[19][20]

In January 2023, the City Loop and its three stations were closed for two weeks to allow for major safety upgrades to the stations and tunnels.^[21] The works will upgrade smoke detection systems, extraction systems, fire detection, fire hydrants, CCTV, and intruder-detection systems.^[22] The upgrade was originally started under the Napthine Liberal government in 2014 and was significantly delayed after the collapse of the contractor while works were underway.^[22] The cost ballooned from an estimated $43 million in 2014 to $469 million in 2023.^[22]

Construction began in 2017 on the Metro Tunnel, a new heavy rail tunnel through the Melbourne central business district designed to relieve congestion on the City Loop tunnels. The 9 km (5.6 mi) dual tunnels soft-opened on 30 November 2025 with limited services through the Metro Tunnel running alongside the existing City Loop service timetable, before full opening on 1 February 2026 when Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury line trains commenced running exclusively through the tunnel.^[23][24][25] The north-south tunnels were first recommended by the Eddington Transport Report in 2008 as a way to increase the central city's rail capacity.^[26] The tunnel involved the construction of five new underground stations: Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac.^[27] There are direct underground pedestrian interchanges with City Loop and other metropolitan services at State Library with Melbourne Central station, and at Town Hall with Flinders Street station.^[27]

This Metro Tunnel creates a new cross-city rail corridor, upgrading and connecting the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines in Melbourne's south-east to the Sunbury line in Melbourne's north-west.^[27] The removal of these lines from the City Loop will allow for service increases on the Craigieburn and Upfield lines, and for the Frankston line to return to the City Loop with dedicated use of the Caulfield tunnel.^[25][28] Sandringham line trains will run through to Williamstown and Werribee via the Flinders Street Viaduct.^[28][27]

The City Loop consists of four independent single-track tunnels, and services operate as four balloon loops, two of which operate one way during the morning and the other way in the afternoon. The City Loop has four tracks on two levels and all stations have four platforms. The four tunnels have portals on both the eastern and western ends of the city centre. The Burnley and Caulfield tunnels run mostly parallel to each other, beginning at Richmond and ending at Southern Cross.^[29] The Clifton Hill tunnel's Western End begins at Southern Cross; the tunnel is the only one that can serve as a full loop, as the tunnel splits into two after Parliament branching off to both Jolimont and Flinders Street.^[30]

All metropolitan lines on the Melbourne rail network except for the Stony Point line serve Flinders Street station or the adjacent Town Hall station, but not all of these lines serve the City Loop.^[31] Trains on the Sandringham lines as well as the Werribee and Williamstown line run direct to Flinders Street in both directions however are set to begin cross running later in 2026.^[32] Trains on the Pakenham Cranbourne line continue towards Sunbury via the Metro Tunnel ^[31]

The nine remaining metropolitan lines serve the City Loop and are organised into four separate groups: Burnley, Caulfield, Clifton Hill, and Northern. Each group has its own dedicated single track tunnel, and carries several lines. The Alamein, Belgrave, Craigieburn, Frankston, Glen Waverley, Hurstbridge, Lilydale, Mernda, and Upfield lines all run through the loop, although some services run direct to Flinders Street station.^[31]

Stopping patterns alternate during weekdays on the Northern and Burnley Groups, with trains switching directions during the day, whereas on the Clifton Hill and Caulfield groups stopping patterns remain consistent all day.^[33]

•  Lilydale ,  Belgrave ,  Alamein  &  Glen Waverley  lines

The Burnley Group currently remains as one of the two loops to reverse operations on weekdays.

During the morning, Burnley Group trains from Camberwell runs anti-clockwise through the loop, departing Richmond then running via the City Loop before arriving at Flinders Street. Services departing the city will then run direct to Richmond, and continue out towards the suburbs. The Glen Waverley line runs direct to Flinders Street. Passengers for the City Loop can change at Richmond for a connecting City Loop service.^[34]

During the afternoon, most Burnley Group trains run clockwise through the loop, departing Richmond running direct to Flinders Street. Services departing the city will then run via the loop to Richmond and continue out towards the suburbs. Trains running local between Camberwell and the City run direct from Flinders Street.

On public holidays and Weekends, the Burnley Group operates under the same service pattern as weekday afternoons running clockwise from Flinders Street via the loop to Richmond all day.^{[35][36][34][37]}

During Night Network (Saturday 12:30am-5:30am, Sunday 12:30am-7:30am) Services will run direct to and from Flinders Street from Richmond.^[38]

•  Frankston line 

The Caulfield Group currently runs anti-clockwise (departing Richmond running via the City Loop to Flinders Street). This has been the case since timetable changes in 2021.^[39][40]

From 1 February 2026, the Frankston line began exclusive use of the Caulfield tunnels.^[41] The Frankston line had formerly used the Caulfield tunnels alongside the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in regular service until 2011, with limited City Loop services continuing in peak and on weekends until 2021.

During Night Network (Saturday 12:30am-5:30am, Sunday 12:30am-7:30am) Services will run direct to and from Flinders Street from Richmond.^[38]

•  Mernda  &  Hurstbridge  lines

The Clifton Hill Group currently runs clockwise (departing Flinders Street then running via the City Loop to Jolimont). This has been the case since timetable changes in 2013.^[42][43]

During Night Network (Saturday 12:30am-5:30am, Sunday 12:30am-7:30am) Services will run direct to and from Flinders Street from Jolimont.^[38]

•  Craigieburn  &  Upfield  lines

The Northern Group currently remains as one of the two loops to reverse operations on weekdays.

During the morning, the Northern Group runs clockwise through the loop, departing North Melbourne, running via the City Loop before arriving at Flinders Street. Services departing the city will then run direct via Southern Cross to North Melbourne and continue out towards the suburbs.

During the afternoon, the Northern Group runs anti-clockwise through the loop, departing North Melbourne then running direct via Southern Cross to Flinders Street. Services departing the city will then run via the City Loop to North Melbourne and continue out towards the suburbs.

On public holidays and Weekends, the Northern Group operates under the same service pattern as weekday mornings running clockwise from North Melbourne via the loop to Flinders Street all day.^[44][45][46]

The Werribee line formerly used the Northern tunnels in regular service until 2011, with City Loop services continuing on weekends until 2021. (Not that the Williamstown line never historically ran via the City Loop). From 1 February 2026, the Sunbury line also ceased running through the City Loop, instead running via the Metro Tunnel.^[47]

During Night Network (Saturday 12:30am-5:30am, Sunday 12:30am-7:30am) Services will run direct to and from Flinders Street from North Melbourne whilst skipping Southern Cross. (On Sunday mornings between 5am and 7:30am all services will stop at Southern Cross but will still run direct to and from Flinders Street).^[38]

The City Loop has three underground railway stations at Parliament, Melbourne Central, and Flagstaff. The stations were opened in the 1980s, with Melbourne Central being the oldest, opening in 1981, and Flagstaff the last to open in 1985.^[48] Each railway station features four tracks with two island platforms stacked on top of each other.^[48]

Parliament station opened in 1983 and serves the eastern end of the CBD. The station has entrances on Lonsdale Street and on Macarthur Street.^[49] The station gets its name from its proximity to the Parliament of Victoria.^[50] The station has interchanges with three tram routes on Nicholson Street and two tram routes on Macarthur Street.^[51][52]

Melbourne Central opened in 1981 as Museum Station. The station received its original name from the Melbourne Museum, which was located within the State Library of Victoria. The station's name was changed in 1997 to Melbourne Central following the 1991 redevelopment of the site above the station to Melbourne Central Shopping Centre and the relocation of the Melbourne Museum to a new building in Carlton Gardens.^[50]

Melbourne Central station is unique as it has only one direct street-facing entrance to the station on Elizabeth Street, with a second entrance located inside of the shopping centre. There used to be a second street-facing entrance on Swanston Street, but that was removed as part of the development of Melbourne Central. The station interchanges with 15 bus routes on Lonsdale Street, three tram routes on Elizabeth street, eight tram routes on Swanston Street and two tram routes on La Trobe Street.^{[53][54][55][56]}

Flagstaff station opened in 1985 and serves the Western end of the CBD.^[57] The station owes its name because of its proximity to Flagstaff Gardens, which is just north of the station.^[50] The station features two entrances on the William/La Trobe street intersection. The station interchanges with two tram routes on Latrobe Street and two tram routes on William Street^[58][59]

The Network Development Plan – Metropolitan Rail in 2012 proposed reconfiguring the City Loop. Once complete, the reconfiguration would help the network to run seven independent lines with dedicated access in the CBD.^[60] The proposal was again included in the 30-year Infrastructure Strategy for 2021–2051 from the independent government advisory body Infrastructure Victoria, as recommendation 60.^[61]

The project would see up to 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of new tunnel built, creating new entrances to the existing City Loop tunnels.^[61] Two of the four City Loop tunnels would be 'split' from the loop, and run as an independent pair of underground cross-city tracks from Richmond station to North Melbourne station.^[61] This would allow more trains to pass through the city rather than travelling around the City Loop, and would free up a pair of tracks between Flinders Street station and Southern Cross on the Flinders Street Viaduct for a second cross-city route.^[61] According to Infrastructure Victoria, the project would deliver two-thirds of the capacity uplift of the Metro Tunnel for a fraction of the cost.^[61]

The main purpose of reconfiguring the City Loop is to allow more services to operate across the network using existing infrastructure.^[62] Infrastructure Victoria in its 30-year strategy argued the Craigieburn metropolitan line, the Shepparton regional line and the Seymour regional line would reach capacity in the 2030s, and the City Loop would be heavily congested by 2036.^[61] After the Metro Tunnel opens, services would still be constrained by the Craigieburn line sharing a single City Loop track with the Upfield line.^[61] Reconfiguration would allow both lines to run more services, and allow more frequent services on the Glen Waverley and Frankston lines.^[61]

Infrastructure Victoria envisioned Glen Waverley and Alamein services running through to the Upfield line via the Flinders Street Viaduct and Frankston services running through to the Craigieburn line via the reconfigured City Loop track pair, which differs from the post-reconfiguration network outlined in stage 4 of the 2012 Network Development Plan.^[62]

The reconfiguration would also allow for suburban extensions of the rail network, including extending the Upfield line to the northern growth suburbs of Donnybrook, Beveridge and Wallan.^[61] Infrastructure Victoria recommended the state government complete a business case into the project.^[61]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melbourne Underground Rail Loop.

• Public Transport Victoria
• Zen and the City Loop (a more detailed explanation of the five train direction configurations)
• Department of Transport – City Loop history and photo page
• Railpage – Publicity leaflets circa 1970
• Metro Trains Melbourne website