Going Underground: Arden Station.
I’ve been lucky enough to have been to Arden Station two times. It's with great thanks to the Metro Tunnel for giving out tickets and setting up events like this for the public and the media to have a look at this architectural marvel.
It’s great to see that Metro Tunnel is projected to open by 2025 as this project closely resembles and has similar characteristics to London’s Elizabeth Line (Crossrail).
The station, Arden had an identity crisis with the original intention being named North Melbourne and the existing North Melbourne Station would’ve been renamed as West Melbourne. This proposed idea was later dropped quietly, by the Victorian State Government where it had been finalised to call this station Arden.
August 2019.
In 2019, the tour was only a walk around the station box which highlighted the TBM Joan.
Arden Station was virtually a box, quite literally a box with a newly yet to be commissioned TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine). It was only a few days after this, TBM Joan started digging.
TBM Joan, was poking through as it prepares to munch through to the Western Portal (South Kensington), roughly 1.4km away from Arden Station.
Also outside, the TBM segments which are yet to be sent down to Joan, at the base of the station box.
March 2022
Fast forward to 2022, with a pandemic somewhat behind us. The station box at Arden has been filled in and this is the result. A station nearly ready for track installation, it’s interesting to note that Test Trains between Middle Footscray — Hawksburn are being planned to start in late 2022 to early 2023.
Taken some shots of the future station platform concourse and passenger corridors. The 240 metre long platform will be fitted out with platform screen doors (first in Melbourne) and will be able to cater for the new either 7 or 10 cars long Evolution HCMT trainsets that currently operates on the Cranbourne and Pakenham Lines.
It’s also interesting to point out how the station is going to be fully signalled with Communication Based Train Control… its currently unknown if there is going be a station block with conventional at the stations or using CBTC block markers forming a virtualised station.
As part of the tour, all tour participants were invited to walk 200m in the tunnel, this was facing towards South Kensington, on the up bound track. 6.5m in diameter, you really can’t tell the size and scale of this tunnel. The tunnel is currently being prepared for the trackbed installation, which had been suggested to be ballastless concrete slab.
The emergency walkway is actually the same level as the platforms, which is roughly 1.7 metres high from the trackbed.
Look at that burnt clay brick archway, its creates a symbolic meaning to the surrounding area of North Melbourne, orignally being an industrial area. It’s been said to be around 104,000 bricks, 15 arches and 154 precast segments.
What the tour guides said, it was literally all work suspended whilst the precast segments were being put into their place, a bitter sweet moment but tense moment when the final pieces got put into place.
Arden has progress far, in a span of three years.
Hopefully, I can make a visit again on another public opening. Its been great to see how a idea on a piece of paper turned into this architectual marvel.
