Just a quick one:
A sign that the Metro tunnel project is nearing completion – On Wednesday they partially reopened the Degraves Street subway. You can now use it again to interchange between platforms at Flinders Street Station.
Lifts have replaced stairs on one side of the subway – mostly the eastern side except for platform 1. This is great – finally those with mobility challenges can use the subway.
The lifts seem quite narrow, but presumably meet DDA requirements. A wheelchair/mobility aid user won’t need to turn around – you go in one door and exit the opposite door.
Some people seem to have discovered the rainbow screens in the subway for the first time. They’re not new – they were there well before it closed in 2022. They show departures by line group, with the right hand column showing the next train to other major nearby stations.
In fact apart from the lifts, not much has changed in the subway at all.
The subway used to suffer from leaks when it rained. This seemed to improve after the 2017 revitalisation project, but from what I recall, didn’t entirely fix it. I guess we’ll see what happens the next time it rains.
(This week the parallel Elizabeth Street subway attracted attention around its condition.)
What’s not open yet is the northern end (the Campbell Arcade), which passes under the street to exits on the north side of Flinders Street. They’re still working on this – it’ll also have a underground passageway to the new Town Hall station.
If you peek through the barrier you can see in. I could see what looks like new fare gates, moved north from their previous position to accommodate the barrier-less Town Hall connection.
Still, good to see another puzzle piece of the huge Metro tunnel project fall into place.
9 replies on “Degraves St subway reopened (mostly)”
Very exciting to see the progress! Iām glad there are lifts too, more accessibility is always great.
As someone who uses a wheelchair and who is well-acquainted with Flinders Street Sation, I found it nice to be able to go down there and have a look for the first time ever on Wednesday.
I’m not sure if this is possible, but I would love to see a new parallel subway to the west of the Elizabeth Street subway which would provide a public path between Flinders Street and the river. They could then reconfigure the entirety of the existing Elizabeth Street to be a fully ticketed area. This way the Flinders Street end of the subway could have a DDA-compliant lift and would allow a higher throughput of commuters.
I have been frustrated for years with the closure of this essential connection. The outcome seems small compared to the time taken. Six lifts in three years? A few dozen screens (were there none before?) new signs. Not much to show for three years IMHO, especially for the inconvenience cost that travellers have been paying every single day.
Absolutely agree with Arfman about the value in having a general pedestrian connection between Flinders Street and the river, either under or over Flinders Street Station tracks. The current Elizabeth Street subway is inadequate for its use as both commuter connection to trains and pedestrian thoroughfare.
About time. The Elizabeth St subway really needs a makeover, it’s been a toilet for 100 years; the grey insets that look suspiciously like urinals, combined with the brown goop dripping down the walls, doesn’t help its image at all (if you’re new to the city, take a guess what the entrance from the subway to platform 1 used to be). Degraves St subway was always the best way in and out of the station. Can we do the same with Southern Cross next?
Looking forward to traversing the Degraves St subway again – and definitely looking forward to walking its entire length into Town Hall Station.
Echoing Heihachi_73, imagine if there was a tunnel under Spencer Street which then connected with platforms for metropolitan trains at Southern Cross Station. Oh, wait – there is! It is not DDA compliant, but for a large number of people it provides a safer, faster, weather-ignorant way to cross a road heaving with cars, trucks and trams. There would be great rejoicing if it was re-opened.
Seems there are heritage issues with the Elizabeth St subway –
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-30/flinders-street-station-graffiti-removal-underpass-tiles/104798900
They’d better get a wriggle on now. Time to stop mucking around and pretending this thing isn’t nearly finished. There’s an election to win and they would want to be damn sure they haven’t got any unplanned delays about to ruin the planned opening schedule. It needs to be functioning comfortably ahead of November, but not so far ahead that people begin to think it was always there.