Large-scale excavation is now underway across all five Metro Tunnel station sites, with around five million tonnes of rock and soil set to be removed from beneath Melbourne to build the $11 billion project.
Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan visited the future Anzac Station site on St Kilda Road today, where excavation on the 300-metre-long, 30-metre wide, and 22-metre-deep station box has ramped up.
As part of the ongoing works, there will be a temporary closure of St Kilda Road between Dorcas Street and Kings Way/Toorak Road West on Monday 4 February, from 1:30am-5:00am, to relocate large construction equipment.
A range of works have been carried out over the past 18 months to enable traffic to continue to flow around the construction site throughout the works.
An acoustic shed will be built over the northern section of the Anzac Station site in mid-2019 to contain dust and noise as hundreds of workers remove around 400,000 tonnes of rock and soil to build the new station.
Around 2.5 million tonnes of rock and soil will be excavated to construct the five Metro Tunnel stations, while the same amount will be removed during works to dig the twin nine-kilometre tunnels.
Suitable topsoil and excavated material will be re-used wherever possible in collaboration with community groups, local government and industry. This includes rehabilitating old quarries, improving public open space and supporting other suitable construction projects.
More than 120 engineering cadets have already gained a career head start on Victoria’s largest ever public transport project, with many completing training at the project’s one-stop shop for jobs and training – MetroHub – next to the Anzac construction site.
Engineering cadets have already worked more than 135,000 hours on the Metro Tunnel, while almost 100 extra tertiary students studying a range of disciplines have worked on the project as part of industry-based learning opportunities.
More than 50 tertiary students were also involved in the state’s biggest archaeology digs as part of the project, completing more than 70,000 hours across two dig sites and in artefact processing labs.
Quotes attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews
“We’re not wasting a minute building the Metro Tunnel – excavation is now underway at every station and the massive tunnel boring machines will be digging under Melbourne by the end of the year.”
“The Metro Tunnel will create space to run more trains, slash travel times, and connect areas such as Domain and Parkville to the network for the first time.”
Quote attributable to Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan
“The Metro Tunnel will not only deliver more trains more often – it will create thousands of local jobs and kick-start the careers of hundreds of young Victorians.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020