Anzac Station structures begin to rise on St Kilda Rd

New images of the future Anzac Station have been revealed, as work moves above-ground to install the steel columns and timber canopy that will form the station entrance and new train/tram interchange on St Kilda Rd.

The images show the station concourse flooded with natural light below the 85-metre-long canopy, which will provide year-round weather protection for tram and train commuters.

During the past two years, hundreds of workers have removed around 400,000 tonnes of rock and soil to make room for the station and the eastern section of the Metro Tunnel, which will link the tunnel entrance at South Yarra to Town Hall Station. 

During January and February crews dismantled the station’s acoustic shed, which was used to contain noise and dust from round-the-clock tunnelling and construction.

In March, crews began installing the striking green steel columns that will support the canopy of the city’s only direct platform-to-platform train/tram interchange.

Over the next six months, workers will assemble the canopy’s 13 curved timber rafters and attach them to the support columns, before installing the roof panelling and skylights.

Other work taking place will include building out the tram interchange entrance at ground level, including installing stairs and escalators.

At the end of the year St Kilda Rd’s tram tracks and traffic lanes will be realigned for the final time over the station, after being twice realigned already to allow the station to be built underground while traffic and trams continued using the road above.

When complete, Anzac Station will give Melburnians and visitors rail access to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Shrine of Remembrance for the first time and will eventually include a link to Melbourne Airport Rail via the Metro Tunnel, with a train trip from Anzac to the airport in just over 30 minutes.

The station will take pressure off the busiest tram route in the world – the St Kilda Rd/Swanston St corridor. Almost 40,000 people a day are expected to use the new station to access Melbourne’s business precincts and growing communities, as well as major cultural destinations south of the Yarra.

The Metro Tunnel will create capacity for more than half a million extra passengers a week during peak times across Melbourne’s train network and save up to 50 minutes on a round trip to St Kilda Rd •

For more information: metrotunnel.vic.gov.au