Melbourne shuts streets in preparation for Metro construction Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Sections of two streets in Melbourne's CBD have been closed as early works start in preparation for construction of the new CBD North railway station, part of the Melbourne Metro.

Franklin Street is closed to vehicle traffic between Swanston Street and Victoria Street, and A’Beckett Street is closed between Swanston Street and Stewart Street.

Construction crews will use the sites to dig down 11 storeys below ground to construct the CBD North Station below Swanston Street. The new station will be linked directly to Melbourne Central Station, providing a seamless interchange between the new Metro Tunnel, the City Loop and the rest of the network.

Acting Minister for Public Transport Jaala Pulford said the closures marked the start of major disruptions for the project, but it would ultimately bring decades of benefits for Melbourne.

"I know these closures will be disruptive but they will enable us to build the turn-up-and-go train system we need,” she said.

The $10.9 billion Melbourne Metro project will involve twin 9 km tunnels from South Kensington to South Yarra. It will connect the Sunbury line in the west with the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in the south-east via five new new underground stations at Arden, Parkville, CBD North, CBD South and Domain.

The consortium which will construct the project is yet to be chosen with three bidders shortlisted. These are Continuum Victoria (comprising ACCIONA Infrastructure, Ferrovial Agroman, Honeywell, Downer EDI and Plenary Origination), Cross Yarra Partnership (Lendlease Engineering, John Holland, Bouygues Construction and Capella Capital), and Moving Melbourne Together (Pacific Partnerships, CPB Contractors, Ghella, Salini Impregilo, Serco and Macquarie Capital). The early works are being done by John Holland.

As well as the work on the CBD North station site, there is also early work underway on St Kilda Road at the site of the future Domain Station. This will see Domain Road closed later this year from St Kilda Road to the edge of Edmund Herring Oval for construction of the new station.

[A tram crossing the Swanston & Franklin intersection. Photo: Melbourne Metro]