Melbourne's Metro Tunnel will open to passengers this morning, doubling the size of the city's underground rail network.
The project, which cost $15 billion and has been hampered by delays and setbacks, will add five new stations, with the first trains hitting the rails at 9am.
The five new stations are Town Hall, Anzac, Arden, State Library and Parkville, with the new line running for almost 100 kilometres.
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It represents the biggest upgrade to Melbourne's rail in 40 years, and will ease congestion on the city loop.
It is a project that has been years in the making, with tunnelling beginning in 2019.
Boring machines were digging as deep as 40 metres underneath Melbourne to create the tunnels, the most striking of which are two twin tunnels that run for nine kilometres.
The opening is not without controversy, with the firefighters union wanting to delay it due to claims about dangerous radio faults within the new network.
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Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan claimed it was a scare tactic to try and secure better pay, rather than publicising any actual safety concerns.
"The claims that have been made by the union today are wrong and they've also been clearly rejected by the rail safety regulator, who is the expert on this matter," Allan said.
"These claims are being made perhaps more for industrial purposes than anything else."
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