The Victorian Government of Australia has initiated construction on its Suburban Rail Loop (SRL), focusing on a tunnel boring machine (TBM) launch site in Clarinda. 

Construction is progressing rapidly at the Clarinda site, where tunnelling will commence next year.

The TBMs will begin arriving later this year to carve out the southern section of the SRL East tunnels.

As part of the project, Consortium Suburban Connect will execute the construction of 16km of twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley. Terra Verde will handle the tunnels north of Glen Waverley to Box Hill. 

Four TBMs will be launched from Clarinda, with two machines digging towards Glen Waverley and two towards Cheltenham.

These TBMs will utilise ‘flying launches’, allowing tunnelling to start while the machine is still being assembled from a smaller launch area.

Each TBM will take approximately three months to assemble and will progress up to 90m per week, the state government said.

In Burwood, excavation for a second SRL East TBM launch site is progressing, with tunnelling from this site also scheduled to start next year.

According to the government, the construction of SRL East from Cheltenham to Box Hill is to create up to 8,000 direct jobs, with more than 3,000 individuals already engaged in the project. 

SRL East trains are projected to commence operations in 2035.

In February last year, construction started at all six station sites for the SRL East project.