Metro Tunnel
Melbourne has a new set of five underground train stations known together as the Metro Tunnel. They connect the Cranbourne-Pakenham and Sunbury Lines into one faster service via the city. However in exclusively connecting those lines they also separate them from the rest of our train network. For those of us living on those lines we get a faster service to and from the city. I imagine our diversion into this new tunnel also takes pressure off the rest of the network. However for those of us who want to change trains in the city it feels like something of a sacrifice.
I was one of many Melburnians who took a look at the Metro Tunnel stations once opened but only partly operational. I was duly impressed with vaulting spaces and modern design. There is some architectural artistry and I particularly admire the street level entrances to both the first and last of the new stations - Anzac and Arden. I also like that the oft-overlooked City Square has been revived as a space outside Town Hall Station. The deploying of staff to the new underground to advise and assist has been welcome. But even then I felt there were a number of missteps in the Metro Tunnel design. It started with something minor.
In the older City Loop tunnel every station has a distinct look. In contrast every Metro Tunnel station at the platforms looks pretty much the same. Grey concrete is offset by fixtures painted in a mix of orange and yellow. I like that but what if every station had been accented with different colours:
Anzac (yellow-green) Town Hall (green-blue) Library (blue-purple)
Parkville (purple-red) Arden (red-orange)
Signage and announcements from within trains are far better now than they were but many of us still find visual cues a speedy method. These colours could have also framed and drawn attention to those parts of the glass platform walls that are doors into trains. Colour variation also makes things more interesting. But I have since decided on other more major problems with the new stations.
One problem is toilets are located only on the levels closer to the surface. It takes a few escalators to get from platform to loos. There is a variety of loos but I suspect there are too few for busy times and a missed opportunity in the lack of pooled queues to the loos.
The biggest problem is that we are separated from the other city stations and must use underground walks to get between Town Hall and Flinders Street stations or between Library and Melbourne Central stations. These travese a few levels of escalators and walkways and are bothersome even if you are a keen walker. I suppose those with mobility issues just have to use the elevators tucked away here-and-there but are there any golf buggy rides for them?
What is my solution to this? Difficult to say. A challenge the current state government faces is it is compensating for decades of neglect and the new improvements had to be fit as best they could to an older plan of City Loop and skyscraper basement carparks. All this seems to be a case of "the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few" for we commuters citywide. For me the gloss of seeing those brand new stations has definitely worn off.
I was one of many Melburnians who took a look at the Metro Tunnel stations once opened but only partly operational. I was duly impressed with vaulting spaces and modern design. There is some architectural artistry and I particularly admire the street level entrances to both the first and last of the new stations - Anzac and Arden. I also like that the oft-overlooked City Square has been revived as a space outside Town Hall Station. The deploying of staff to the new underground to advise and assist has been welcome. But even then I felt there were a number of missteps in the Metro Tunnel design. It started with something minor.
In the older City Loop tunnel every station has a distinct look. In contrast every Metro Tunnel station at the platforms looks pretty much the same. Grey concrete is offset by fixtures painted in a mix of orange and yellow. I like that but what if every station had been accented with different colours:
Anzac (yellow-green) Town Hall (green-blue) Library (blue-purple)
Parkville (purple-red) Arden (red-orange)
Signage and announcements from within trains are far better now than they were but many of us still find visual cues a speedy method. These colours could have also framed and drawn attention to those parts of the glass platform walls that are doors into trains. Colour variation also makes things more interesting. But I have since decided on other more major problems with the new stations.
One problem is toilets are located only on the levels closer to the surface. It takes a few escalators to get from platform to loos. There is a variety of loos but I suspect there are too few for busy times and a missed opportunity in the lack of pooled queues to the loos.
The biggest problem is that we are separated from the other city stations and must use underground walks to get between Town Hall and Flinders Street stations or between Library and Melbourne Central stations. These travese a few levels of escalators and walkways and are bothersome even if you are a keen walker. I suppose those with mobility issues just have to use the elevators tucked away here-and-there but are there any golf buggy rides for them?
What is my solution to this? Difficult to say. A challenge the current state government faces is it is compensating for decades of neglect and the new improvements had to be fit as best they could to an older plan of City Loop and skyscraper basement carparks. All this seems to be a case of "the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few" for we commuters citywide. For me the gloss of seeing those brand new stations has definitely worn off.
Labels: Life Experiences, Political
posted by Dan at
21.2.26
1 Comments:
Also a comment on station names. This could have been an opportunity, while changing transport maps and documentation, to also change the confusing name of Melbourne Central Station.
Like the other City Loop stations, Parliament and Flagstaff, it was originally named for a civic locale and called Museum Station. Then the museum, which had shared a home with the library, moved to another site, and a major shopping centre was built over the station. The station was re-named for that commercial complex, Melbourne Central, but it has proved a confusing name. Many visitors from interstate and overseas imagine it to be the central station of the metropolitan area, despite that role belonging to Flinders Street Station.
My suggestion for a more distinct name that fits a historic site of some distinction, would be to call it Tower Station for the heritage-listed shot tower that stands within the glass cone of the shopping centre.
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Dan, At
21 February, 2026
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