MELBOURNE, 21 August 2023: Just behind the historical St. Paul’s Church is the upcoming Town Hall Station of the Metro Tunnel, deep beneath the city. Construction is underway on the Metro Tunnel which will untangle the City Loop so more trains can run more often across Melbourne. The Metro Tunnel will create a new end-to-end rail line from Sunbury in the west to Cranbourne/Pakenham in the south east, with bigger and better trains, next generation signalling technology and 5 new stations – Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and ANZAC. Works are underway to deliver 2 new underground stations in Melbourne’s CBD at each end of Swanston Street.
It is this section at the Metro Town Hall Station, I visited today, going around 30 meters deep through zig-zag metal stairs ably guided by a Metro Tunnel team. I wore special strong boots, specs and an orange vest. The media team was excited at the rather essential infrastructure project of the Daniel Andrews state government.
Construction crews are now building the spectacular Town Hall Station underground concourse, directly beneath Melbourne’s City Square. Work is in progress to install the 8 soaring columns that is the special feature of the concourse level. Passengers will experience a large open space when they enter the 18 metre-wide station concourse from City Square. The 8 concrete and steel columns will reach all the way to the ceiling, up to 14 metres above the concourse.
The state-of-the-art Town Hall Station will be a new gateway to some of Melbourne’s most popular destinations, including Federation Square and Southbank. It will feature extraordinary cathedral-like arched ceilings and some of the widest underground rail platforms in the world.
The Metro Tunnel will transform rail travel in Melbourne, creating capacity for more than half-a-million extra passengers in the peak each week. This project is the biggest ever of its type in Victoria.
Town Hall Station will be located under Swanston Street, between Flinders Street and Collins Street. It will include an underground passenger connection to Flinders Street Station, allowing commuters to conveniently interchange between Metro Tunnel and City Loop train services without having to touch off and on again.
Passengers will be able to access the station from 7 entry points – at City Square, Federation Square, Campbell Arcade, Flinders Street, Swanston Street, Cocker Alley and Scott Alley.
The new station precinct will directly interface with popular transport routes along Swanston, Collins and Flinders streets. Station access features will include: a direct underground connection into Flinders Street Station via Campbell Arcade, an entrance at Federation Square to improve access to this important civic space as well as the Yarra River, Birrarung Marr and beyond, a station entrance at City Square to reduce pedestrian congestion along Swanston Street and relieve pressure on the Flinders Street/Swanston Street pedestrian crossing, more than 70 new bike parking spaces and the safe interchanges with nearby tram stops on Collins, Flinders and Swanston streets.
About one and half hours of trip down this historical infrastructure project, I felt, the state government, engineers, workers, technicians and all others are doing a wonderful job.
Things are easy said than done. Working away from regular life in such an environment needs commitment and courage. No doubt, the safety measures are stringent.
