Major construction kicks off at Parkville's new station

Major construction works have begun on the site of the new Parkville Station with the Acting Premier and Minister for Transport Infrastructure marking the occasion with a site visit last week.

Parkville, one of the five stations to be built as part of the Melbourne Metro project, will have a station box measuring 270 metres long, 30 metres wide and 30 metres deep, excavated over the course of 2019.

Initial excavation will be limited to digging three metres down where a temporary concrete and steel deck will be constructed that will protect the surrounding area from further dust and noise during the bulk of the excavation period.

The remainder of the excavation at Parkville will include trucks removing spoil through a ramp that will be constructed under the temporary deck. Rail Projects Victoria (previously known as the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Authority) published the video below on its YouTube channel recently to illustrate how the excavation process will work.

According to the Acting Premier and Minister for Transport Infrastructure, excavation will run through to the end of the year at which point construction of the platforms and concourses will then commence.

Separately, the Metro Tunnel website is now carrying a page which tracks the journey of the first TBM from China to Melbourne.

Upon arrival at the Port of Melbourne, the TBM components will be trucked to the first launch site at NORTH MELBOURNE (née Arden), where it will be set off to begin tunnelling under the city.

Four TBMs will be used on the project overall, with the third and fourth TBMs to be launched from Anzac (née Domain) station on St. Kilda Road where reportedly the TBMs will first make their way toward the eastern portal at South Yarra.