Thanks Anne for the following story
THE METRO TUNNEL AND THE MELBOURNE CBD
The best part about participating in a vocational visit, like the one we had on Monday for the Metro Tunnel Tour was the discovery you make about the knowledge, talents and obvious skills of the members of The Rotary Club of Canterbury.
The members of the information team at the Metro Tunnel Information Headquarters opposite the Melbourne Town Hall, in Swanston Street, explained many features of the new streamlined railway system, how the new sections are under the ground and connect with the South Yarra Railway Station.
Highlighted was the completion of the Parkville Station (near the hospitals and research end of the Melbourne CBD) and the refinements made to prevent interference with medical equipment used to treat patients.
Also mentioned was the testing of signalling systems which track trains during the entire journey of the train. When we left the Swanston Street Headquarters, Velos showed us photographs of items found under the construction site opposite St Paul's Cathedral. The site was firstly used as John Batman's family residence. Then, it became a girls' school. Dolls have have been found on the site which are now highly valued, which were once owned by students at the school. These items will be place on display in a special exhibition at some time in the future.
Once we had completed the tour, we headed off to Riverland Bar, on the edge of Federation Square , on the banks of the Yarra River. In a more personal vein, it has been a long time since I led a tour on Federation Square, and near the Yarra River. There have been many refinements. I particularly noticed that the exhibition in ACMI has been significantly improved. We all learned much about the changes being made in Melbourne CBD and I know that it was a highly successful vocational visit for our Rotary Club.
And to Helen who provided us with a little extra information (who doesn't like the stats??)
Monday morning started as a grey drizzly day, but 20 Rotarians and friends met under ‘The Clocks’ at 9.30 to take the walk along Swanston St to the Metro tunnel centre. Velos and his team gave a very informative presentation, which explained the motivation and scope of the project. Five new underground stations are now nearly complete together with twin 9km rail tunnels. The estimated project cost is between $11 and $12 billion, about $1,5 billion more than the original estimate.
The project will create an end to end rail line from Sunbury to Cranbourne/ Pakenham, using bigger and more modern trains, and a more modern signalling system. This will allow trains to run more frequently on the entire Metro network.
After the presentation the group enjoyed lunch together overlooking the river.
