Town Hall railway station, Melbourne

Town Hall railway station is an under-construction rapid transit railway station on the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury lines, serving the Melbourne CBD in Victoria, Australia. When opened as part of the Metro Tunnel project, Town Hall will be an underground premium station, featuring an island platform with two faces. The station will connect directly to Flinders Street via an underground concourse. Major construction commenced in April 2018, with completion in early 2025.^[1]

Town Hall
Future PTV rapid transit station
An acoustic box over the Collins Street entry to Town Hall station, December 2020
General information
Location	Swanston Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000 City of Melbourne Australia
Coordinates	37.8159259°S 144.9671336°E / -37.8159259; 144.9671336
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Sunshine–Dandenong
Distance	10.28 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Connections	Flinders Street:       Hurstbridge Mernda       Lilydale Belgrave Alamein[a]       Glen Waverley       Craigieburn Upfield       Flemington Racecourse[b]       Frankston       Sandringham       Werrlbee WilIiamstown       Gippsland Tram
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Depth	28 metres (92 feet)
Accessible	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Under construction
Station code	THL
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Town Hall station
History
Opening	2025 (scheduled)
Electrified	Yes (1500 V DCoverhead)
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station through to Watergardens or Sunbury Pakenham line Anzac towards East Pakenham or Cranbourne Cranbourne line through to East Pakenham or Cranbourne Sunbury line State Library towards Watergardens or Sunbury
Track layout Legend to State Library 1 2 Yarra River to Anzac

It is being built below Swanston Street between Flinders and Collins Streets and will serve local destinations including St Paul's Cathedral, Federation Square, Southbank and the Degraves Street dining precinct. It is named after the nearby Melbourne Town Hall.

History

The Metro Tunnel project began in 2015, with early works commencing on the two central business district (CBD) station sites in 2017.^[2][3] In April 2017, City Square on Swanston Street was fenced off for the commencement of construction and staging works.^[4] Major station works at Town Hall began in 2018.^[5]

Cross Yarra Partnership, led by Lendlease, was named as the preferred bidder for the construction contract in July 2017 and designs for the project's five stations were presented by the consortium were released publicly, as well as details of connections to existing stations and streetscapes.^[6] In November 2017, after a naming competition, it was announced the CBD South station would be named Town Hall, after the nearby Melbourne Town Hall.^[7] Updated designs were revealed by the government in 2018 that showed Town Hall and State Library stations would feature large platform caverns with archways, and that there would be multiple entrances.^[8][9]

City Square, Port Philip Arcade on Flinders Street and several small shops along Swanston Street were demolished to allow construction of the station.^[10][11][12]

In May 2020, major traffic changes were put in place near Flinders Street in order to improve safety around large trucks entering acoustic sheds as a part of the project. Left turns from St Kilda Road to Flinders Street were removed, and the pedestrian crossing between St Paul's Cathedral and Federation Square was temporarily closed.^[13]

Two tunnel boring machines arrived at Town Hall station in April 2021 and were dismantled and extracted, signalling an end to tunnelling on the project.^[14] Road-headers broke through at the platform tunnels of Town Hall station in August 2021 as the major excavation phase on the two CBD stations neared completion.^[15] Town Hall was excavated to a depth of 33 m (108 ft) below street level, with the station platforms to sit 27 m (89 ft) below street level.^[15] This followed the completion of road-header excavation of the platform caverns at State Library in 2020.^[16]

In late 2022, acoustic sheds began to be dismantled at the Town Hall and Anzac station locations in order to allow construction of above-ground station structures.^[17][18]

Design

The station will feature four entrances, the main entrance being located in City Square opposite Melbourne Town Hall, the second being located off Flinders Street, connected to Cocker Alley and Scott Alley.^[19] The third entrance is located within Federation Square, with the Square's information centre demolished in 2018 to construct the new entrance.^[20]

The final entrance is an underground connection to nearby Flinders Street station through the already existing Campbell Arcade connection.^[19] A number of changes were made to the design of the Campbell Arcade walkway to preserve the site's heritage character.^[21]

Initially it was planned to build the station using the cut-and-cover method, however this was changed so that the tunnels would run deeper underneath the ground in order to not disturb services, utilities and businesses on Swanston Street.^[22][23]

Like State Library station, Town Hall used a unique "trinocular" construction method involved the mining of three large, overlapping tunnels with vaulted ceilings.^[24] Large arches will define the 230 metre long platforms.^[25] Underneath City Square, the station's main entrance features a 14-metre high concourse space.^[26] Eight columns hold up a vaulted ceiling nicknamed "the crypt", an architectural reference to the nearby St Paul's Cathedral.^[26]

The station was designed by architects RSHP, Hassell and Weston Williamson.^[27]

Over-site development

Excavation for Town Hall station at the site of City Square,
February 2019

In December 2022, the developer Lendlease secured planning approval for the over-site development above the Flinders Street entrance to Town Hall.^[28] The nine-story office and retail development will feature station entrances opening to Swanston Street, Flinders Street and rebuilt arcades connecting to Cocker Alley and Scott Alley.^[29] The site is owned by the Victorian government and sits around the famous Young and Jackson Hotel and adjoins the Nicholas Building.^[30]

Art and sculpture

Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was commissioned to create a permanent artwork for Town Hall as part of the Metro Tunnel's legacy artwork program.^[31] In 2024, Rail Projects Victoria stated that this commission had been cancelled due to difficulties from the COVID-19 pandemic, and unlike the other stations Town Hall would not have its own artwork.^[32]

A number of artworks and sculptures will be returned to the Town Hall sites once construction has finished, including the King Neptune sculpture by Melbourne artist Charles Bush.^[19] The King Neptune sculpture sat above the entrance to Port Phillip Arcade on Flinders Street, which was demolished for the station.^[33][19] The famous statue of ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills was removed from City Square in 2017 and is planned to return to the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets after the completion of the station.^[34] The John Mockridge Fountain water wall will also be returned and relocated to the northern edge of City Square along Collins Street.^[35]

Town Hall station precinct

As part of the construction of Town Hall Station, the City Square precinct is set to be rebuilt as a public gathering and events space.^[26] There will be 70 new bike parking spaces built to cope with increasing demand, as well as improved tram interchanges on Flinders, Collins, and Swanston streets.^[19] A new tram connection is planned to be built as part of the Metro Tunnel, allowing trams to turn onto Flinders Street from the current tram terminus on Elizabeth Street.^[36]

Station layout

G	Street level	Entrances/Exits
B1M	City Square Concourse	Walkway
B1	City Square Concourse	Retail, walkway
	Federation Square Concourse	Walkway
	Flinders and Swanston Streets Concourse	Retail, toilets, walkway
B2	City Square Concourse	Retail, toilets, walkway
	Federation Square Concourse	Walkway
	Flinders and Swanston Streets Concourse	Concourse, passageway to Flinders Street station, Campbell Arcade
B3	City Square Concourse	Concourse, customer service
	Federation Square Concourse	Walkway to platform
	Flinders and Swanston Streets Concourse
B4 Platforms	Platform 1	→  Sunbury Line  towards Sunbury (State Library) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the right
	Platform 2	←  Pakenham Line  towards East Pakenham (Anzac) ←  Cranbourne Line  towards Cranbourne (Anzac)

^[37][38]

Gallery

• 
  Acoustic box over the Federation Square entrance to Town Hall station, with Flinders Street station in the background, August 2022