The first of five Metro Tunnel stations has now been completed, reading for testing ahead of the opening of the underground rail line in 2025.
Arden Station will form the centre of a new connected precinct located two kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. The Victorian Government expects the new precinct will be home to 34,000 jobs and 20,000 people within the next three decades.
Sitting on a former industrial site, Arden Station features a soaring brick arched entrance skylights to let natural light flow 14 metres underground and Victorian first platform screen doors for safe access to trains.
The new station includes bike parking spaces, drop off zones, accessibility carparks and will be within walking distance of the North Melbourne Recreation Centre, Arden Street Oval and the route 57 tram.
Across the full scope of the Arden Street precinct, $5 billion will be invested to expand the Royal Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospitals, establishing an enhanced biomedical and health sciences hub.
Since construction began in 2018, thousands of workers have excavated 330,000 tonnes of rock and soil installed 3.000 lights and laid 104,000 locally manufactured bricks
The Metro Tunnel will connect the busy Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines via a new tunnel under the city, creating an end to end rail line from the north west to the south east, freeing up space in the City Loop and creating capacity to run more trains more often.
The project and its new High Capacity Metro Trains will make room for an extra 121,000 peak hour passengers every week an increase of 45 per cent saving people up to 15 minutes on a journey to Parkville and 25 minutes to St Kilda Road.
