Special Metro Tunnel tour for Melbourne’s rail pioneers

A group of Melbourne rail veterans have been given an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the Metro Tunnel – more than 40 years since their pioneering work on the City Loop.

The group of architects and engineers recently visited Parkville Station for a close up look at one of five state-of-the-art stations being built as part of the Metro Tunnel.

The project will more than double the size of Melbourne’s underground rail network when it opens later this year, with nine-kilometre twin rail tunnels under the city and five new underground stations.

The City Loop veterans were guests of the Metro Tunnel Project team for a guided tour of the new state-of-the-art station, located on the doorstep of Melbourne University, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter Mac.

It was an opportunity for the two groups to compare the challenges of building train stations in the centre of a major city and to chat about the advancements in technology.

Peter Bishop, who was the supervising engineer for construction of the City Loop’s tunnels, said the construction of the projects, though separated by decades, had similarities.

“The improvements in technology for doing work ... there’s been big improvements in both materials and equipment, which, in theory, make it easier,” Mr Bishop said.

“Nevertheless, you’ve still got the people issues to deal with, in other words the labour force, and equipment.”

“It’s really not a lot different but you’re able to do trickier things because of the improvements in materials and technology.”

Richard Cameron was the principal architect for Flagstaff Station in the 1970s and ‘80s, when the city’s commuters were introduced to underground train stations for the first time.

We were pioneers of people going underground and the real difficulty we had was convincing people that to go underground was not a trauma, he said.

Mr Cameron said the group was impressed by the design and architecture of Parkville Station – in particular the natural light.

“The lighting from street level down onto the platforms and the spaciousness and the comfort by being able to relate to the sky above was very, very good. I was most impressed with that.”

The Metro Tunnel is the biggest upgrade of Melbourne’s train network since the first part of the City Loop opened in 1981 and will transform the way people move around the city when it opens later this year.

The project will open to passengers later this year. •