Will occur around Q3 this year is my best guess so maintain that rage for another few months!!
Tunnelling
Complete at last – the vibration should be over.
They are now removing rubble and sacrificial tunnel material plus constructing the cross passages. These are emergency escape routes between the two tunnels.
Much of the gear at Edmund Herring Oval will now be removed. Most gone by end of August EXCEPT the power station. The oval will now be used as a set down area – ironically at the public hearing all those years ago, it was to be only used for setdown
Other info
The actual steel rail to be used in the entire tunnel from South Yarra to CBD (through the Domain Station) will be pulled in from South Yarra. This is great news for us as it means we won’t have massive volumes of rail deliveries during the night!!
We are writing today with our next weekly construction lookahead.
ANZAC STATION WEEKLY LOOK AHEAD
Please be aware that Monday is an RDO. Tunnelling support related activities will continue both underground and at EHO, but there will be no other civil works on these days.
Tunnelling and TBM support site
In exciting news, and a major milestone for the project, TBM Alice broke through at Town Hall Station earlier this week! We’ve included a picture of the breakthrough to this email for you.
She now joins TBM Millie, having completed their 1.8 kilometre journeys to the CBD, underneath St Kilda Road, Queen Victoria Gardens, the Yarra River and Flinders Street Station. This means that tunnelling in the East is now complete.
From here, work will continue stripping pipes from the completed tunnels and then disassembling the TBMs and returning the gantry pieces to the Anzac Station site.
The slurry treatment plant at Edmund Herring Oval will now be thoroughly cleaned, before work begins to dismantle and remove all of the equipment. This will take a couple of months, and then the area will be used for equipment laydown and storage.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange
Similar works continue in the tram interchange next week.
Waterproofing and steelfixing are ongoing to prepare for the next concrete pour to construct the base slab. Works are also continuing on preparing the area for the construction of some of the internal walls and columns.
At the moment, the next base slab concrete pour is scheduled for Thursday 13 May. As we’ve mentioned in the past, to ensure structural integrity of any concrete pour, works must be continuous and may be required to continue outside of normal construction hours.
As we mentioned in last week’s look-ahead, steel fixing is one of the quieter activities as it is done largely by hand, in the coming weeks there may be some steel fixing carried out up until 10pm in the tram interchange. Where possible, steel will be lowered into the box earlier in the shift to avoid unnecessary disruption. At this stage it’s unlikely any extended hour steel fixing will be required next week.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Shrine of Remembrance
The Shrine of Remembrance station entrance site has been backfilled and asphalted. It has now been handed over to the tunnelling team who will use it to store TBM parts as they are returned to site before they’re taken away by the supplier. As no works will be occurring in this area for a while, we will not be including it in lookaheads moving forward.
Station box construction
In the southern section of the station box, work continues to excavate down to the base slab level, which includes the demolition and removal of the sacrificial tunnel.
Excavation will continue to operate underneath the roof slab 24/7. While excavators will continue underground after 10pm, surface works of loading trucks with material to remove from site will stop at 10pm.
This second stage of excavation was originally due to be completed by the end of the month, but the team is progressing very well and it is looking likely that we will be finished before then. We will keep you updated through these emails.
We’ve included a photo this week of how far along the excavation has progressed. Last week’s photo showed the start of the works, this week’s photo is from the same position, highlighting how far the works have progressed as the team head south breaking out the sacrificial tunnels and excavating down to the base slab.
Our environment team will continue to monitor these works closely, with supervisors on site working to ensure noise is minimised where possible.
In addition to the sacrificial tunnel demolition and excavation, work has begun on formwork to construct some of the permanent columns and walls on the concourse level of the south box.
Over in the northern end of the station box underneath the acoustic shed, the team continues to construct internal columns, and install falsework and steelfixing for the next concourse slab pour. The next column is due to be poured next Tuesday 11 May.
I have been trying to resolve the issue of the ugly chiller plants that are currently planned for installation in front of our building (see image)
I have met with numerous people and that includes the Rail Projects Victoria (Vic Gov) person who will effectively signoff the decision. Linda Cantan is the Package Director – Tunnel and Stations for the entire Metro Project.
Linda is clearly very capable and was receptive to our issue. Amongst many things, I asked if it was possible to relocate the Chillers into the park in Bowen Crescent and incorporate it into an updated toilet block / cafe. She committed to investigating that option.
Her reply is below
“I’m just following up on some of the issues we discussed on April 15 and in particular your query regarding the possibility of locating the Chiller Plants in the Kings Way reserve.
There are a number of factors that mean that this is proposed solution is not possible.
the electrical submain cables originating from the station power supply (essentially a private supply) would need to go cross title boundaries into public land which is prohibited under the electrical code – electrical supply authorities would not allow this. To pursue an alternative electrical supply in Kings Way reserve that did not originate from the station power supply would not achieve level of redundancy required for reliable train service operation and dedicated HV substations would be required in Kings Way park for the chillers thus adding to the infrastructure required;
the infrastructure (pumps, pipes & cables) would need to increase significantly to deal with the losses due to the increased distance from the chiller plant to the station again adding to the scale of the infrastructure;
even if the power issues could be overcome and the significantly increased chiller plant could be designed and built, a culvert would still be required to contain the chilled water pipework to each chiller from the Station to the chiller location. Culverts would therefore need to cross St Kilda Rd north bound – this would likely not be approved by authorities under St Kilda Road when alternatives are available;
As we discussed, the final location of the chiller plants was determined taking many comments and feedback into consideration and balancing competing objectives and concerns. RPV are satisfied that the median of St Kilda Road is the most appropriate location for the chiller plants. The design team will focus on appropriate cladding and tree planting to offset the visual amenity impacts and the community will have the opportunity to comment later this year as part of the Development Plan Amendment consultation process.”
We also discussed the size of the Chillers and her reply on that matter is below
“RPV has reviewed the CYP design for the operational efficiency and the ability to meet the project EPRs. RPV are satisfied that the dimensions as they stand are necessary to meet the requirements and therefore the chiller plants cannot be reduced in size.”
We are writing today with our next weekly construction lookahead.
Tunnelling and TBM support site
TBM Alice has completed 1.6 kilometres of the 1.8 kilometre journey to the Town Hall Station. Currently, she is tunnelling opposite the platforms of Flinders Street Station, and is very close to Town Hall Station.
The slurry treatment plant at Edmund Herring Oval continues to operate, treating the spoil coming from TBM Alice. Trucks for spoil disposal will continue for the duration of tunnelling in the East.
The first rear gantry from TBM Mille has now been pulled back through the tunnel to Anzac Station. Over the coming weeks you’ll see sections of the TBM removed from the acoustic shed and stored to the side ahead of their removal from site via truck.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange
The first concrete pour for the tram interchange station entrance was completed earlier this week.
Next week, work continues on waterproofing and steelfixing in the remaining sections of the entrance, preparing for the next concrete pour.
As we mentioned in last week’s look-ahead, steel fixing is one of the quieter activities as it is done largely by hand, in the coming weeks there may be some steel fixing carried out up until 10pm in the tram interchange. Any steel will be pre lowered into the box prior to 6pm to avoid unnecessary disruption. At this stage it’s unlikely any extended hour steel fixing will be required next week.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Shrine of Remembrance
Backfilling work is nearly complete at the Shrine Entrance, with crews working to asphalt the area ahead of handover to the tunnelling team for storage. The completion of backfilling means that stage one of the Shrine entrance is now complete.
Station box construction
In the southern section of the station box, work has begun to excavate down to the base slab level, which includes the demolition and removal of the next stretch of sacrificial tunnel. We’ve included a picture from the first day of the phase two of excavation, which shows the blinding layer of concrete being broken out ahead of excavation down to base slab level.
As we mentioned last week, we will trial 24/7 excavation underground. Excavators will be running under the concrete decks after 10pm and we will closely monitor the noise during this time. A member of the environment team will be out on site conducting monitoring on the first night of works.
From Monday next week, crews will be loading trucks on the surface up until 10pm with excavated material to drive from site. As with the underground excavation, the lessons learned from last time will be applied – with all light towers running off mains power and the excavator operators barred from using the bucket on concrete to scrape up loose material. Loadout from 6pm to 10pm will only be of softer materials with no load-out of concrete segments into truck beds.
This Saturday, crews will be loading out on the surface until 3pm, as excavation continues beneath the roof slab.
Over in the northern end of the station box underneath the acoustic shed, the team continues to construct internal columns, and install falsework and steelfixing for the next concourse slab pour.
Albert Road Reserve event
Calling all good doggos!
The Metro Tunnel Creative Program and Shaggy Doo are offering local pooches free dog treats and grooming, including nail clipping, brush outs, tidy clips and deodorizing.
A couple of people have said that they have had some damage to their clothes from clothing moths. If you have had issues, these seems to be successful…from Bunnings
Also good it you tell Paul so he has some idea of how many people are having issues
I hope you all like the new electronic displays in the lifts. I’d like to thank Graeme for his efforts in making this all happen.
Luckily I’m on Level 7 and that gives me more time to read the various screens of information. I THINK that there is one with a free coffee offer, but I have not seen it yet??
Is that Simon from Level 3 in the Degraves Lane shot??
We are writing today with our weekly construction lookahead.
As you would be aware, Anzac Day is this Sunday, 25th April. There will be no construction activities on site on Sunday, other than the minimum required to maintain safe operation of the one TBM still tunnelling towards Town Hall Station.
The Anzac Station and Edmund Herring Oval site lights will be switched off ahead of the Dawn Service to help support the respectful observance of Anzac Day.
ANZAC STATION WEEKLY LOOK AHEAD
Tunnelling and TBM support site
TBM Alice has completed 1.5 kilometres of the 1.8 kilometre journey to the Town Hall Station. Currently, she is now underneath the Yarra River on the approach to Town Hall Station.
The slurry treatment plant at Edmund Herring Oval continues to operate, treating the spoil coming from TBMs Millie and Alice. Trucks for spoil disposal will continue for the duration of tunnelling in the East.
The first rear gantry from TBM Mille will be pulled back through the tunnel to Anzac Station next week, over the coming weeks you’ll see sections of the TBM removed from the acoustic shed and stored to the side ahead of their removal from site via truck.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Tram Interchange
On Tuesday next week the team will pour the first section of the base slab for the tram interchange entrance. The section to be poured is the northern most section underneath the suspended slab. On the day two concrete pumps will be set up at the northern end with concrete trucks arriving to site throughout the day.
Waterproofing and steel fixing will continue in the remaining sections.
As we mentioned in last week’s look-ahead, steel fixing is one of the quieter activities as it is done largely by hand, in the coming weeks there may be some steel fixing carried out up until 10pm in the tram interchange. Any steel will be pre lowered into the box prior to 6pm to avoid unnecessary disruption. At this stage it’s unlikely any extended hour steel fixing will be required next week.
Anzac Station entrance construction – Shrine of Remembrance
Backfilling work is nearly complete at the Shrine Entrance, once this is done the area will be sealed ahead of the storage of the first gantry piece that will be stored on top. The first rear gantry is likely to be lifted up to surface at the back end of next week and stored. The completion of backfilling means that stage one of the Shrine entrance is now complete.
Station box construction
In the southern section of the station box we have this week removed the false work deck that we used to support the concourse level pour. The removal of the false work means that there is the room underneath the concourse to commence the second stage of excavation of the sacrificial tunnel. This will take the south box down to the base slab level.
The start of this excavation will also see the return of load-out works, with a long-reach excavators loading trucks that will drive from site. As was the case last time, the load out of excavated material will continue up until 10pm on nights. As with the underground excavation, the lessons learned from last time will be applied – with all light towers running off mains power and the excavator operators barred from using the bucket on concrete to scrape up loose material. Loadout from 6pm to 10pm will only be of softer materials with no load-out of concrete segments into truck beds.
As we mentioned last week, we will trial 24/7 excavation underground. Excavators will running under the concrete decks after 10pm and will closely monitor the noise during this time. A member of the environment team will be out on site conducting monitoring on the first night of works.
This week we’ve included a photo looking south down the station box across the newly poured concourse level. With the falsework deck removed from underneath concourse, you can see the team clearing out the area and running lighting in preparation for the start of excavation down to the base slab level (roughly an additional 2m), while up on the concourse level the team are preparing for the construction of the internal walls on what will be the ‘back of house’ concourse area of Anzac Station.
The second photo shows the remaining section of the sacrificial tunnel that we will begin excavating next week.
Over in the northern end of the station box underneath the acoustic shed, the team have now poured two sections of the concourse slab in the north and will next week pour the third section, in addition to continuing the work on the internal columns.
The Botanica 
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