Finally, we can pretend we are totally New Yaw-kers and interrupt people in conversations by saying “YAAAS QUEEN get out my way I’m rushing to the subway!” or something like that.
The Victorian government have broken the news that an underground Metro rail tunnel will be installed over the coming years, cutting right through Melbourne’s CBD. The proposed metro project includes five new underground stations at Arden, Parkville, CBD North, CBD South and Domain. The plan also appears to leaning towards a shallow tunnel, only 10 metres below the ground, rather than 40 metres.
Government confirms Metro rail tunnel will be just ten metres below Swanston St. Here’s why: @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/Ejj3neDq6H
— Andrew Lund (@andrew_lund) April 15, 2015
Premier Daniel Andrews told 3AW this morning the tunnel would be “an international-style train system”, and would be so frequent, that “you don’t need a timetable”. However, he also confirmed that there would be a lot of disruption, for a long period of time.
“There’ll be some years where Swanston Street will be significantly disrupted and we’ll have to put alternative tram routes in place,” he said.
Twitter’s been on fire ever since the announcements, expressing concerns:
Neither Premier or Transport Minister know how deep the Yarra is. But say tunnel will go under it. Say will defer that work to engineers.
— Andrew Lund (@andrew_lund) April 16, 2015
.@DanielAndrewsMP says Swanston St traders will endure years of disruption. Haven’t determined if they’ll be compensated but will look at it
— Frances Bell (@bellfrances) April 16, 2015
Ripping up Swanston St is unacceptable #springst https://t.co/E5zF9LE9vj
— #SpringSt Source (@SpringStSource) April 16, 2015
This comes only a day after the controversial announcement that the East West Link project would be cancelled. The scrapping of this project invited for some choice words from the Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who appeared to be super mega pissed that the Victorian government had “recklessly” destroyed jobs and added to traffic congestion.
“The East West Link is the only answer,” he said. “Tens of millions of dollars and years of planning have already been invested to get the project shovel-ready.”
Regardless, according to the ABC the rail tunnel looks set to go ahead, and project is said to cost around $11 billion, and major construction would begin in 2018.
