Today is day 2 of live operations of the Metro Tunnel - also known as the Munnel. I decided that today would be day 1 of me trying it out.
It turns that it was a good idea having my first experience of it on day 2 as there were plenty of spare seats on the are trains.
I started my journey at Town Hall Station. There is still work being done on some finishing touches. I suspect that this is going to be a large sign notifying passengers of things on the rail network.
The smell in these new stations is similar to the smell of the interior of a brand new car.
This photo of the platforms of Town Hall Station is probably a familiar sight now to all those who were following the progress updates in the lead up to the opening of the Station.
There is one platform at these new stations serving trains coming either way.
Resuming my thread about my first experience of the new Melbourne Metro Tunnel line which I experienced today, day 2 of the tunnel's operational life...
I thought that this sign in one of the new stations was showing people the boarding gate next to the sign because in Australia, we are not used to this system.
No, it is telling people to walk down the platform to a gate that will open. The platforms have been designed to cater for trains with more carriages than are running at the moment.
After taking the 58 tram from Anzac Station, I went to the Flagstaff Station on the City Loop. This station was the station I used regularly in my first job in 1986. It was opened in May 1985 so brand new when I first started using it. I don't remember it being this cream colour on the walls. Is this tired looking colour caused by pollution and plastic deterioration? Or maybe my memory is wrong.
I hope that the new Metro Tunnel stations retain their colours and don't look this tired in the future.
#CityLoop #Melbourne
I reached the Melbourne Central Station and found this small entrance beckoning me to the new State Library Station. It was at the top of the escalators leaving the Melbourne Central Platform to the top of the Melbourne Central Station.
I found it confusing because it led to lifts, not escalators to the new State Library Station. I ignore lifts at stations as I am able-bodied and don't need to use lifts.
I entered the lift at the Concourse level and needed to go to the Platform Mezzanine level. From there, I walked along a walkway to the platform
Orange is the colour theme of the new stations with bright yellow for the bathrooms.
I think the bathrooms could have been designed better. The toilet roll holders are really too low (and I am not tall). You need to really shove your hands up the holes to activate the hand dryers. I thought they were not working at first, but I discovered that I did not shove my hands up high enough.
The west bound train goes to Platform 2 at Footscray station. That platform has a mixture of old and new building structures.
I got confused about how to transfer to platform 1 to catch the stain back the opposite way into the Metro Tunnel. I was looking for escalators to the platform but here the choice is stairs or lifts as it is an old station.
I did not explore the new Arden Station as I had limited time. It is nice and close to the Public Records Office which house the Victorian state archives. I have a little project which will lead me to visiting these archives in the next couple of weeks, so I can check out the station then.
I stopped at the new Parkville Station. One exit leads to the hospitals and the opposite exit delivers you to the Melbourne University campus in Carlton. Now the university is serviced by the Swanston St trams and this station further west from the trams.
In conclusion, this new line will do a lot to improve accessibility to many hospital patients and their staff. We had someone move out of our street because it was just too hard to get to these hospitals where she worked from our inner suburban locality. This will make a difference.
It will also make a difference to people from the outer suburbs around Dandenong and to people living on the urban fringe at Pakenham.
Currently the trains on the Netro Tunnel.only operate every 20 minutes or so between 20am and 3pm during weekdays. The new train timetable that incorporates the full service operation of this line won't come out until February. I wonder if it will operate express services from these outer suburbs?
Yvonne Perkins