New milestone for Melbourne's Town Hall Station excavation

Concept design for passenger connection from Town Hall Station to Flinders Street Station via Campbell Arcade.

The third roadheader has broken through at Melbourne’s Town Hall station, marking the completion of excavation for the first level of rail tunnels running alongside the station’s platforms.

After being launched from City Square in 2019, the first roadheader tunnelled directly under Swanston Street and began to excavate the main station cavern. The second was launched at Federation Square to build the underground passenger connection across Flinders Street. Finally the third roadheader has been working to excavate the passenger connection between Flinders Quarter across Swanston Street to the station site.

Each roadheader has been operating around 25 metres below the CBD. Weighing 188 tonnes the machines are equipped with cutter heads that are capable of smashing through rock three times harder than concrete.

The roadheader will now dig down another seven metres to complete the tunnels, as major excavation for all five new underground stations – Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac – heads towards the finishing line.

More than 120,000 cubic metres of soil and rock has been dug at the site by three roadheaders – enough to fill 48 Olympic swimming pools – with excavation at the station now more than 75 per cent complete.

The Town Hall Station site will be longer than a city block and as deep as a five-storey building, housing a state-of-the-art station with direct underground links to Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and City Square. The finished station will run to a depth of around 33 metres below street level, with its platform level at 27 metres below ground.

Town Hall Station is expected to provide access to the city’s landmarks such as Federation Square, Southbank, the Arts Centre, St Pauls Cathedral and other tourist locations. It will also give commuters simple access to City Loop services at Flinders Street. The station will also have a direct link to Melbourne Airport in 2029 via Melbourne Airport Rail.

Passengers will access the Town Hall station from seven entry points, at City Square, Federation Square, Campbell Arcade, Flinders Street, Swanston Street, Cocker Alley and Scott Alley.

They will move between the new station and nearby Flinders Street Station platforms via a direct underground connection to Campbell Arcade.

The Metro Tunnel is a major enhancement to Melbourne’s rail network and will add five new underground stations to the Metro Tunnel by 2025.

The contract for the main tunnelling works and the five underground stations was awarded to Cross Yarra Partnership (CYP) consortium, comprising Lendlease Melbourne Metro, John Holland, Bouygues Construction, John Laing and Capella Capital in July 2017.