Woodend’s Peter Bishop played a pivotal role in the last transformation of Melbourne’s train network more than 40 years ago, as supervising engineer on the City Loop.
Recently he and a group of former City Loop colleagues had a rare glimpse into the city’s next massive rail upgrade, with a visit to the Metro Tunnel’s Parkville Station.
The Metro Tunnel will more than double the size of Melbourne’s underground rail network when it opens later this year, with 9km twin rail tunnels under the city, connected to the Sunbury Line, and five new underground stations.
Mr Bishop, 83, was the supervising engineer for construction of the loop tunnels when the city’s first underground railway was built back in the 1970s.
The City Loop veterans, including architects and engineers, were guests of the Metro Tunnel Project team for a guided tour of the new state-of-the-art station, located on the doorstep of Melbourne University, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter Mac.
Mr Bishop said the group was impressed by the design and architecture of the station.
“Having seen a few other metros in various other parts of the world … I was pleased to see it’s got all the facilities and technology that’s equal to anything else I’ve seen around the world,” he said.
“It’s also a nice station (with) lots of natural light and open space and the width of the platforms have been designed for peak loading in the future.”
The two groups compared the challenges of building train stations in the centre of a major city and chatted about the advancements in technology.
Mr Bishop said the construction of the projects, though separated by decades, had similarities.
“The improvements in technology for doing work … there’s been big improvements in both materials and equipment, which, in theory, make it easier,” he said.
“Nevertheless, you’ve still got the people issues to deal with, in other words the labour force, and equipment.
“It’s really not a lot different but you’re able to do trickier things because of the improvements in materials and technology.”
The Metro Tunnel is the biggest upgrade of Melbourne’s train network since the first part of the City Loop opened in 1981 and will transform the way people move around the city when it opens later this year.
The Sunbury Line will be connected to the Metro Tunnel, while Bendigo Line passengers will be able to change at Footscray for a Metro Tunnel service.
The new underground stations are Arden (in North Melbourne), Parkville, Town Hall, State Library (both on Swanston Street in the CBD) and Anzac (on St Kilda Road).
