Melbourne’s State Library station will be 240m long and 30m wide, and its 19m platforms will be some of the widest underground metro platforms in the world.
The first permanent building works for the station are now underway, and a concrete floor has been installed that will form part of the future platform.
Three roadheaders have dug 36m under Swanston Street while also excavating the station length of 240m between Franklin and La Trobe Streets.
Later this year, they will go back underground to dig out the rail tunnels on each side of the central station cavern.
State Library and Town Hall stations will feature ‘trinocular caverns’ – three overlapping tunnels dug by road headers which will allow the concourse and platforms to be integrated on one level.
500 tonnes of rock are being excavated every day as the roadheaders are equipped with cutterheads that smash through rock three times harder than concrete.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan inspected progress on the construction happening at State Library station on Thursday morning.
“A huge amount of work continues to be done at State Library Station, with the platform already taking shape,” said Andrews.
Allan said the Metro Tunnel is the biggest public transport project in Victoria’s history.
Major construction is continuing in the northern end of Swanston Street at the site of the future State Library Station throughout February this year.
The $11 billion project is set to be completed by 2025.