Melbourne Metro Tunnel officially opens, featuring CBTC

On 30 November 2025, after a decade of work by thousands of Victorians, the Melbourne Metro Tunnel officially opened for service.

The Metro Tunnel has been dubbed the biggest transformation of the city’s public transport system in 40 years, more than doubling the size of Melbourne’s underground rail network. It is particularly significant as it is understood to feature Australia’s first communications-based train control (CBTC) system on an existing network, delivered by Alstom — a multinational rail transport systems manufacturer.

With over 30 years’ expertise in CBTC, Alstom’s state-of-the-art Urbalis signalling system is used on over 190 metro lines in 32 countries, including 74 that operate on a completely automatic, driverless basis. Its Urbalis Flo CBTC is now working in sync with conventional signalling as part of the Metro Tunnel, enabling thousands more weekly passenger trips and reduced headway between trains, allowing the network to run more trains more often.

The opening represents the culmination of several years of effort, with the project having featured collaboration of Alstom teams from Australia, Thailand, the USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, the UK, India, Canada and Spain since contract signing in 2017. Driver onboard Automatic Train Operation is a key project feature, enabling autonomous train operation; Alstom also delivered custom-built Platform Screen Doors enabling precision platform stopping, as well as core component technologies for the Sunshine Signal Control Centre.

Alstom, as part of the Rail Network Alliance, carried out more than 4000 hours and 70,000 km of dynamic testing on the network prior to opening. Benefits delivered include reduced headway between trains, increased precision of train speed profile, increased station stopping accuracy and reduced turnback times.

“The system that we have installed is bespoke for Melbourne’s rail network, operating in a brownfield environment, which is an Australian first,” said Pascal Dupond, Managing Director of Alstom Australia and New Zealand. “If ever an Australian signalling project stood for the coming together of global expertise with local network knowledge, the Metro Tunnel Project is it. We are proud of the role that we have played on a truly city-shaping project.”

Melbourne now joins Sydney in having CBTC technology on its rail network, with Alstom also delivering high-capacity signalling for Perth. The company says it is the only rail technology provider to have delivered urban CBTC technology in Australia.

Images: Supplied.