First look inside the Metro Tunnel’s new Town Hall Station in Melbourne

With cathedral-like ceilings, expansive platforms and connections to Flinders Street Station, Town Hall Station is set to open within weeks. We were given first access and a behind-the-scenes tour. Watch the video.

Construction of the $15.5 billion Metro Tunnel’s most complex station has finished, paving the way for the city-shaping line to open within weeks.

Town Hall Station, which has connections to Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and City Square via cavernous underground passageways, is now set to be handed over to rail operators to train staff and test the new systems.

The Sunday Herald Sun was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the rail hub, which includes 220 metre-long platforms built five storeys below Swanston Street, and how it will reshape the heart of the CBD.

Herald Sun journalists Grace Frost and Matthew Johnston were given a behind-the-scenes tour of Town Hall Station. Picture: Ian Currie

Escalators down to the new Town Hall Station. Picture: Ian Currie

The cathedral-like arched ceiling. Picture: Ian Currie

Premier Jacinta Allan will visit the new station on Sunday. Picture: Ian Currie

Premier Jacinta Allan will visit the new station on Sunday and recommit to opening the tunnel to passengers by December, transforming Melbourne’s rail network.

“The Metro Tunnel will cut congestion and get you to work, uni and home sooner – and it opens this year,” she said.

Town Hall station was the most challenging of five Metro Tunnel stations built, largely due to its depth and complex network of interchanges and underpasses.

The site had been due to be finished by April along with another CBD station at the State Library, but delays meant the project was forced to bring in extra crews to get construction back on track and enable the new line to open in 2025 as promised.

Despite running late on construction, testing of trains through the tunnel has been progressing well, with 265,000km already travelled.

The Government has described the construction challenge at Town Hall as the industry equivalent of “keyhole surgery” due to the fact the station had to be built while Swanston St and Flinders St remained open to traffic.

An initial plan for the Metro project, which connects South Yarra to Kensington and includes five new stations, had been to run a shallow tunnel just beneath Swanston Street and over the City Loop.
This was later changed to be a deeper tunnel more than 40 metres underground, allowing the central CBD to avoid being ripped up and rebuilt.

The total space excavated for Town Hall Station was 260m long, and as deep as a five-storey building – up to 33 metres under Swanston St.

Town Hall Station sits 33 metres under Swanston St. Picture: Ian Currie

The Metro Tunnel will create an alternative underground rail line to the City Loop. Picture: Ian Currie

Below City Square, which is the main entrance, there is a sweeping public concourse area accessible without tapping on a Myki, and described as a “square beneath the square”.

Once the Metro Tunnel opens it will create an alternative underground rail line to the City Loop, and connect the Sunbury line in the city’s northwest to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the southeast, allowing more services to run.

Five new stations built as part of the project include Anzac near the Shrine, Town Hall, State Library, Parkville, and Arden in North Melbourne.

Transport Infrastructure Minister, Gabrielle Williams, said the completion of Town Hall Station was a major milestone for the project.

How passengers are able to enter and exit the Metro Tunnel’s Town Hall Station. Picture: Supplied

The platforms at Town Hall are 220 metres long and 18 metres wide. Picture: Ian Currie

The new station is set to open in December. Picture: Ian Currie

“We’re another step closer to opening the Metro Tunnel later this year – completely transforming the way Melbourne moves,” Ms Williams said.

There are 44 escalators and 12 lifts set to operate once all entrances open, including at Federation Square, City Square, and Swanston St next to the Young and Jackson pub.

Rail passengers could also walk from Flinders Street Station to the new line without having to touch off their Myki, while the pedestrian underpass called Campbell Arcade under the Degraves St subway has been refurbished and reopened.

There are 44 escalators and 12 lifts set to operate once all entrances to the station open. Picture: Ian Currie

Town Hall is one of five new stations set to open as part of the new Metro Tunnel. Picture: Ian Currie

Passengers can walk from Town Hall to Flinders St Station without touching off their Myki. Picture: Ian Currie

The “trinocular” design of three overlapping tunnels at platform level creates a cathedral-like arched ceiling, with the 18 metre-wide platforms “among the widest underground metro platforms in the world”.

A whopping 2200 tonnes of steel was used during construction, and 7000 cubic metres of concrete, while an army of workers moved more than half a million tonnes of rock and soil.

Metro Trains crews will train and test the station in coming weeks, while drivers continue to put trains through their paces after clocking up 265,000km since early last year.

Originally published as First look inside the Metro Tunnel’s new Town Hall Station in Melbourne