A Melbourne prepare enthusiast has experienced a exceptional look behind the scenes at one particular of the Metro Tunnel’s five new underground stations.
Aiden Blythman was offered a sneak peek of Arden Station in a just one-on-a person tour deep beneath North Melbourne – his prize for being the 250,000th customer to Metro Tunnel HQ on Swanston St.
HQ is the award-profitable interactive facts centre for Victoria’s key rail tasks, including the Metro Tunnel and Melbourne Airport Rail.
Pretty much 91,000 site visitors handed by means of HQ’s doorways in 2022, marking the busiest calendar year on file.
Blythman stated he experienced been “hyped quite significantly each and every day” due to the fact discovering of his exceptional visit.
And in March, his aspiration grew to become a fact when he got to walk the 230m-prolonged platforms, inspect the Victorian-very first platform display screen doors and get a glimpse at the tracks that will have Melbourne’s new fleet of greater, far better trains.
He also had the chance to stand underneath the station’s landmark arches – “which I uncover rather damn awesome” – that will welcome passengers into the station when the task opens in 2025.
“This area is amazing,” Blythman claimed. “The tour was great.”
Blythman lives not considerably from Dandenong Station and hopes to be a single of the initially men and women to catch a educate by way of the Metro Tunnel when it opens in 2025 – a yr ahead of routine.
Dandenong Station is on the Cranbourne-Pakenham strains, which will connect to the Sunbury Line to make an east-west link by way of the Metro Tunnel underneath the metropolis.
“The component that is likely to impact me the most is Anzac and Town Corridor (stations) simply because that’s likely to be my most important way to get into the city,” Blythman mentioned.
“I’ll certainly have a lot greater connections. Heck, I could even choose the coach to Sunbury if I required to!”
Metro Tunnel HQ provides site visitors the possibility to understand about other important rail assignments below Victoria’s Significant Construct, which includes Regional Rail Revival, Suburban Rail Loop and Geelong Fast Rail.
It incorporates a 3D city product, interactive displays, digital actuality, panoramic theatrette, kids’ functions and giveaways – and can be booked by school and neighborhood teams, with totally free entry all calendar year round.
At the time finish, the Metro Tunnel will build capacity for much more than a 50 percent a million added travellers on the rail network just about every 7 days. From 2029, the Metro Tunnel and Melbourne Airport Rail will enable travellers to capture a teach from the CBD to Melbourne Airport in about 30 minutes. •