Digging deep at Central Station

A major milestone has been reached in the construction of Sydney Metro under Australia’s busiest railway station. 

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance today visited Central Station where excavation has reached the bottom of the new Sydney Metro station box which is 27 metres below ground level.

“This has been an extraordinary engineering and

construction achievement, delivering new Metro in the heart of our busiest railway station, while train services continued right around us,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The NSW Government has supported jobs through the COVID-19 crisis, with work fast tracked at Central over the past year due to reduced customer numbers within the station precinct.

“Right now, around 5000 people are working on Sydney Metro and about 50,000 will have worked on the City & Southwest project by the time services start in 2024.”

Mr Constance said the two underground Metro platforms at Central are being built differently to other Sydney Metro stations. 

“We’re building this brand new Metro station at Central from the top down rather than bottom up, to deliver the platforms as quickly as possible while minimising the impact to commuters,” Mr Constance said. 

“The two tunnel boring machines did not stop at Central but kept tunnelling through, which meant the final stage of excavating the station box was to smash through the twin tunnel sections from above using 14 excavators.

“More than 280,000 tonnes of crushed rock has been removed from the station box, enough to fill about 46 Olympic swimming pools.”

The 460-tonne steel structure of the new landmark Northern Concourse roof is also complete, with more than 500 louvres currently being installed on the eastern, northern and western ends of the roof, which was made in Kurri Kurri.

Excavation of the 19 metre-wide Central Walk underground link has reached about 75%, and is on track to open in stages from next year. Central Walk will connect light rail customers with suburban trains, Metro trains, buses and regional services.

The work at Central Station is being delivered as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, which will see Metro rail services extend from Chatswood, through the city and beyond to Bankstown in 2024.