Major construction is complete on Parkville Station. The new station will provide easy rail access to Victoria’s world-renowned health and education precinct when it opens to passengers next year.
Parkville Station is the second of five new state-of-the-art stations to be finished as part of the Metro Tunnel. The station will transform travel for thousands of medical staff, patients, families, students, teachers and researchers who travel to the busy area every day.
The station includes entrances directly outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The University of Melbourne. It also has a 44 metre long pedestrian underpass beneath Royal Parade to make crossing the road easier and safer. Parkville Station features a 54-metre-long steel and glass canopy filling the concourse with natural light.
Over the past six years, hundreds of workers have built the station and the four station entrances, and installed 16 escalators, seven lifts and Victorian-first platform screen doors.
Premier Jacinta Allan celebrated the milestone.
“We are two down and three to go on the Metro Tunnel stations – and we’re another step closer to transforming Melbourne forever,” she said.
A new level-access tram stop on Royal Parade opened last year. This will allow people to easily switch between trams and trains when the Metro Tunnel opens in 2025.
The station’s landmark artwork Vernal Glade, by internationally acclaimed Melbourne artist Patricia Piccinini, was recently installed inside the main entrance.
Minister for Transport Infrastructure Danny Pearson went on to further celebrate the occasion.
“This year’s Budget investment will get the Metro Tunnel ready for kick-off – delivering the staff, station infrastructure and customer information on the ground to support day one and beyond,” he said.
Test trains have run around 18,500km so far as part of the Metro Tunnel testing program. Over the coming months, the project team will test Parkville Station systems to make sure everything works together. This includes passenger information displays, platform screen doors and ventilation.
Work is continuing on the 3 remaining underground stations – State Library, Town Hall and Anzac. Construction on Arden Station finished earlier this year.
With the Metro Tunnel on track to open a year ahead of schedule in 2025, the Allan Labor Government invested more than $233 million in the Victorian Budget 2024/25 to prepare staff, systems, infrastructure, customer information – and more – for the tunnel’s opening.
This investment also includes standing up specialised ‘hypercare’ response teams on the ground from day one to ensure the Metro Tunnel runs smoothly for commuters from the moment it opens.
Crews are making excellent progress on train testing through the tunnels, with test trains travelling around 18,000 kilometres so far – longer than the distance between Melbourne and London.
The Metro Tunnel will create an end-to-end rail line from Sunbury in Melbourne’s north-west to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south-east, while freeing up space in the City Loop and connecting all Victorians to jobs, healthcare and education.
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