First look: The five new stations of the Melbourne Metro Tunnel in pictures

Ten years after then-premier Daniel Andrews proposed it, the Metro Tunnel is opening to its first passengers on Sunday, November 30 on a limited timetable.

Melbourne’s first major rail project in 40 years consists of twin nine-kilometre tunnels under the CBD and features five new train stations: Arden (in North Melbourne), Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac (opposite the Shrine of Remembrance).

Here’s what they will look like as the first passengers board the first city-bound train from Sunbury at 9.28am on Sunday. All five stations have distinctive designs, but First Nations artist Maree Clarke has created a mosaic pattern artwork of 35 footprints across all of the platforms, tying them together visually.

Arden station is the furthest north, located in North Melbourne near the Kangaroos’ home ground. The facade includes an artwork of hands reaching for each other, called Come Together, by artist Abdul Abdullah.

Parkville station will serve the Melbourne University and healthcare precinct.

Artist Patricia Piccinini, known for her whimsical, realistic sculptures and the famous Skywhale hot air balloon, has created mosaic artwork Vernal Glade in the station concourse.

State Library station’s 12-metre columns and beams are meant to evoke the architecture of the library itself.

Danie Mellor’s large-scale photographic portraits of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung women set in contemporary landscape titled Forever, are printed on the La Trobe Street glass-panel facade.

The City Square was closed for the past eight years during the building of Town Hall station. The square has finally reopened, and on Sunday the station will, too.

It will include an underground interchange to Flinders Street Station, allowing passengers to change between City Loop and Metro Tunnel trains. Town Hall includes a 45-metre glass artwork by Maree Clarke, called Barerarerungar.

The southernmost station of the Metro Tunnel is Anzac station, opposite the Shrine of Remembrance on St Kilda Road. Its roof is made of timber with green columns, to complement the trees of the Royal Botanic Gardens across the road.

Two bronze carrier pigeons by artist Fiona Hall guard one entrance, memorialising two real-life avian heroes of World War II. Both pigeons delivered crucial messages during the war and were awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

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