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 northern 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.
