Metro Tunnel works in City Square are entering the next phase, with piling underway to build the new Town Hall Station up to 35m beneath Melbourne’s CBD.
Piling works will take place in the massive shaft created by the demolition of the three-storey car park beneath City Square and subsequent removal of around 5,000 tonnes of debris from the site. An acoustic shed will be erected over the City Square site early next year, before 24-hour excavation and tunnelling works commence.
The Metro Tunnel is creating thousands of local jobs through initiatives such as the Major Project Skills Guarantee which has already given the careers of more than 1,200 apprentices, trainees and engineering cadets a kick start.
Minister for Industry and Employment, Ben Carroll, said, “Our Major Project Skills Guarantee is giving Victorians the experience and training they need to get ahead in their careers – whilst we build the infrastructure Victoria needs.”
More than 1 million work hours have been completed by the apprentices, trainees and engineering cadets on 52 projects. So far, 110 apprentices, trainees and engineering cadets have clocked more than 110,000 hours working on the Metro Tunnel. The five-year project will create 7,000 jobs, including 791 apprentices, trainees and cadets.
Over the coming months, Victorians will be able to watch from the viewing windows on Swanston Street as scores of workers and construction equipment, bore huge support columns into the ground. This will allow deeper digging to safely commence, with Town Hall Station to be built within the excavated space.
The Metro Tunnel project is just one of 67 contracted major government projects that will apply the skills guarantee expected to generate more than 3,580 employment opportunities for young Victorians.
