After almost a decade of construction Melbourne's new metro has opened

ABC NEWS (Australia)

After almost a decade of construction Melbourne's new metro has opened this morning. Two nine-kilometre tunnels are connecting the Pakenham Cranbourne lines in the east to the Sunbury line in the west. here will only be limited services through the tunnel for two months. Public transport is free across every weekend in December and January.

Transcript

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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