00:00And our reporter Natasha Shapova joins us now from Town Hall Station in Melbourne.
00:07Hi there Natasha. Plenty of people behind you looking to get on the metro.
00:12The trains are up and running. What's the morning been like?
00:17Good morning. Well, it's a massive day for Melbourne, full of festivities.
00:21I feel as if I'm at a sporting event right now.
00:24I mean, from early this morning, people were lining up from 6am at Sunbury Station,
00:29which is just at the start of one of the lines that's going through the tunnel.
00:33And there were hundreds of people already lining up from 6 up until 9.30 when that train took off.
00:39We were actually lucky enough to be on that first train that went through the tunnel.
00:43And people were cheering. Everyone was so excited.
00:46Everyone had their metro tunnel merchandise as well.
00:49And every station that we stopped at, every new one of those five stations for the metro tunnel,
00:55people were chanting the name of those stations and just so delighted.
01:00And they were packed. It was as if it was peak hour on a Monday morning on the trains.
01:05There was nowhere to move.
01:06And people also weren't even able to get onto the trains,
01:09the ones that were trying to get on at a later station.
01:12So the mood here is just amazing.
01:15People are excited to see these new stations.
01:17It's been 10 years in the making.
01:20Here's what some people had to say.
01:23It's amazing. This has just been so much fun.
01:25I mean, I knew it was going to be crowded, but this was more than we expected.
01:29Well, we do intend to see more of the city and explore more.
01:33We've just retired, so, yeah, good opportunity to use it.
01:38Going well so far.
01:39Trouble-free.
01:41Been waiting 10 years for this.
01:42So the metro tunnel is linking a 100-kilometre route
01:49from the west to the east of Melbourne.
01:52And it's just a big day for everyone here.
01:55People are coming and they're trying out
01:58and they're seeing every one of the stations.
02:00Trains are departing every 20 minutes
02:02and we'll have a full service with trains expected
02:04every three to four minutes sometime next year as well.
02:08And it's free public transport starting today,
02:10every weekend until February.
02:13So people are making the most of it
02:14to see this new infrastructure project come to life.
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