‘Bloody amazing’: Metro Tunnel opens to huge crowds, minor hiccups

The opening of Melbourne’s new $15 billion cross-city rail line, the Metro Tunnel, attracted huge crowds on Sunday, marking the biggest upgrade to the city’s public transport system since the City Loop opened nearly 45 years ago.

Minor hiccups, including malfunctioning platform screen doors and escalators, and a false fire alarm, did not deter the thousands of Victorians who squeezed onto the inaugural trains through the tunnel and into the five new inner-city underground stations.

Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams (left) and Premier Jacinta Allan on Sunday.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Ahead of boarding the first train from Sunbury, Premier Jacinta Allan declared it “absolutely bloody amazing to see this day come” after more than two decades of planning and construction.

“Today certainly belongs to those thousands of Victorians who have spent the last decade building the Metro Tunnel,” she said. “It fills me with such great pride to see what people in our great city and state can achieve”.

Sunday was the first day of a two-month “soft launch” in which there will be limited services before a full timetable commences on February 1. Before then, Metro Tunnel trains will only operate between West Footscray and Westall every 20 minutes from 10am to 3pm on weekdays.

The Metro Tunnel connects the Sunbury line in the north-east to the Cranbourne/Pakenham line in the south-east, creating a 100 kilometre cross-city connection.

Passengers at Anzac station on the Metro Tunnel’s opening day. Credit: Chris Hopkins

The first passenger service through the new underground departed from Sunbury at 9.28am and entered the nine-kilometre tunnel at South Kensington just before 10am to cheers from the rail enthusiasts on board. A train from Pakenham East entered the tunnel from the other direction at South Yarra a few minutes later.

Ryan Bilszta and daughter Hannah, 8, travelled from Pascoe Vale to ride the first train from Sunbury.

“These are memories,” Bilszta said as the train approached the tunnel entrance. “For the minimal effort involved and for the historical significance, it’s something that you wouldn’t miss.”

Catherine Beck travelled from her home in Sunshine to Sunbury to catch the first train.

In addition to being a self-declared “train nerd”, Beck uses a mobility walker and sometimes a wheelchair.

She was particularly interested in the accessibility improvements in the five new stations. Platforms line up level with the train carriages, meaning Beck could alight at Anzac without assistance.

“Getting off here was so easy compared to the likes of Southern Cross, where you need to have the driver actually come out and pull the ramp out,” Beck said. “Even if I’ve got my wheelchair, I’m still able to get on and off without a problem.”

Passengers on the main concourse of Anzac station. Credit: Getty Images

Beck, whose father and grandfather were railway workers, said the new stations would make travelling to the city far less stressful. “It means I feel more normal,” she said.

Former premier John Brumby first committed to the Metro Tunnel in December 2008, shortly before his Labor government lost power. Daniel Andrews revived the project when Labor returned to government in 2015.

Early construction started in January 2017, followed by almost nine years of works that shut down key parts of the city.

On Sunday, a number of teething issues emerged over the course of the day.

Escalators broke down temporarily at Parkville and Town Hall stations.

Passengers were unable to board one train at Anzac after a train overshot the platform, preventing the platform screen doors from opening. That came after a false fire alarm at the South Yarra entrance delayed services by about 25 minutes.

The United Firefighters Union continued its campaign against the Allan government’s infrastructure program, claiming on Sunday that Fire Services Victoria did not have suitable equipment or training to respond in the Metro Tunnel or the West Gate Tunnel toll road, which will open next month.

Allan and the Office of National Rail Safety Regulator have strongly rejected these claims, and the premier reiterated on Sunday that the project had received full accreditation from the regulator.

Passengers on board at Anzac station on Sunday. Credit: Simon Schluter

Allan, who has overseen the project since 2015, first as public transport minister and then as premier, was careful to direct credit towards Victorians who worked on the massive project.

But the premier also took every opportunity to cash in the political dividend from opening the city-shaping piece of infrastructure 363 days before the next state election.

“You most certainly would not have had this if the Liberal Party had their way. They cut the funding. They called it a hoax,” Allan said.

Crowds at the new Melbourne Metro Tunnel opening.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said she saw $3 billion in cost blowouts when she looked at the Metro Tunnel.

“The premier today might be taking Victorians for a ride, but she is taking them for a ride every single day when it comes to the waste and the financial mismanagement of this state,” she said.

The project was budgeted at $10.9 billion, but the cost to Victoria blew out to $13.48 billion. The total project expenditure is about $15 billion, including contributions from the Cross Yarra Partnership construction consortium.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll noted that opening the tunnel “brings us one more step closer to delivering the Melbourne Airport rail”, a long-delayed project that would include a new station in Carroll’s electorate in Keilor East.

Public Transport Users Association spokesperson Daniel Bowen said Victorians needed to see the yet-to-be released timetable for February 1 onwards before they could judge the tunnel’s utility.

He also encouraged the state government to invest in more frequent services on other lines to make the most of extra capacity freed up in the City Loop.

“There’s no doubt when you improve public transport, more people use it,” Bowen said.

“A big project like this … will increase patronage, but it also shows the interest people have in these big city-shaping projects. Hopefully, there are more of them coming soon.”