Alstom deploys Australia’s first brownfield CBTC signalling system as Melbourne Metro Tunnel opens

Alstom has delivered Australia’s first communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling system on an existing railway, as Melbourne’s long-awaited Metro Tunnel officially opens to passengers. The Urbalis Flo system is designed to cut headways, increase service frequency and enable thousands of additional weekly journeys across the Victorian capital.

The milestone follows extensive international collaboration, drawing on Alstom teams from Australia, Thailand, the USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, the UK, India, Canada and Spain since contract signing in 2017. The installation marks the country’s first brownfield deployment of CBTC, integrating the technology with conventional signalling across five new underground stations.

The opening is being hailed as Melbourne’s most significant rail upgrade since the City Loop began operating more than 40 years ago, more than doubling the size of the city’s underground network.

Pascal Dupond, Managing Director of Alstom Australia and New Zealand, said: “The system that we have installed is bespoke for Melbourne’s rail network operating in a brownfield environment which is an Australian first. 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.”

The project introduces driver-on-board Automatic Train Operation, enabling autonomous train functions, alongside custom-built platform screen doors to support precision stopping. Working as part of the Rail Network Alliance, Alstom completed more than 4,000 hours and 70,000 kilometres of dynamic testing to validate the system before opening.

Confirmed benefits include reduced headways, improved speed-profile precision, enhanced station-stopping accuracy and shorter turn-back times. Melbourne now becomes the second Australian city with CBTC operations, joining Sydney, while Alstom is also delivering high-capacity signalling for Perth. The company remains the only rail technology provider to have delivered urban CBTC in Australia.