Melbourne’s Five New Metro Tunnel Stations: A New Era in Urban Design

The completion of the Metro Tunnel Project has transformed the way Melburnians move through their city, unveiling five striking new underground stations that have redefined the city’s architectural and transport landscape.

The project has delivered twin nine-kilometre rail tunnels beneath central Melbourne and five new underground stations —North Melbourne (Arden), Parkville, State Library, Town Hall, and Anzac — creating a seamless new, line-wide, transport spine through the heart of the city.

By taking three of Melbourne’s busiest train lines — Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury — through the new tunnels, the Metro Tunnel has untangled the City Loop, enabling more than half a million additional passengers per week to travel across the rail network during peak periods.

The CYP Design and Construction Joint Venture (CYP DC JV) — comprising Lendlease Engineering, John Holland and Bouygues Construction Australia — delivered the tunnels and stations package of works. 

With the opening of the five new stations, Melbourne has gained a series of civic landmarks and meeting places that combine space and natural light to create calm, intuitive experiences for passengers. The line-wide design celebrates civil engineering and scale, revealing the structure and function of each station as part of the passenger experience.

Each station expresses the character and colours of its surrounding neighbourhood, through materials such as brick, bluestone, timber and glass, and through connections to new parks, public spaces and bicycle facilities at street level.

Beyond their role as transport interchanges, the stations are vibrant destinations, hosting shops, cafes, restaurants and public art that contribute to the city’s cultural life and sense of place.

Arden Station
Located in North Melbourne, Arden station is a catalyst for urban renewal — a gateway to a new community for living, working and visiting. Its bold red brick archway reflects the area’s industrial heritage and establishes a distinctive landmark for the precinct. The station entrance uses 15 large precast brickwork archways – offset skewed arch - inspired by Scottish Engineer, Peter Nicholson who set out a method for skew-arch construction in stone. The brick arches lead you above and below ground, with a pathway above leading to an elliptical shop front as a retail experience. The station is lifted up 1.5metres above ground as the station is designed on a flood plane. 

Parkville Station
Situated in the heart of Victoria’s education, health and research district, Parkville Station features a glass canopy roof that fills the concourse with daylight and leafy views of Grattan Street. 

Four entrances connect the station directly to the University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

State Library Station
At the northern end of Swanston Street, State Library Station provides a direct underground interchange with Melbourne Central Station. Its entrance echoes the State Library’s neoclassical portico, while the trinocular cavern design creates one of the widest and most spacious underground platforms in the world, defined by sweeping concrete arches and generous proportions. The entrance also features Forever, a major artwork by Australian artist Danie Mellor – honouring the cultural, social and family contributions of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung women, with portraits and landscapes drawn from the State Library’s archives.

Town Hall Station
Serving the southern end of Swanston Street, Town Hall Station linked directly with Flinders Street Station via Degraves Street underpass and Campbell Arcade, weaving into Melbourne’s iconic laneway network. Entrances at City Square, Federation Square, and behind Young and Jackson’s create new public spaces and retail experiences. The City Square canopy compliments heritage icons such as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Manchester Unity Building, while harmonising with surrounding contemporary architecture.

Anzac Station
Located beneath St Kilda Road, Anzac Station has become the first train–tram interchange of its kind in Melbourne. Three entrances connect directly to the Shrine Reserve and Albert Road Reserve, while a timber canopy and skylights bring natural light into the concourse and link the underground spaces with the surrounding parklands.

Inspiration from Melbourne’s iconic sunrise as well as the lively street art that graces the city walls – warm, vibrant tones contrast boldly against grey concrete infrastructure – has informed the station-wide colour strategy. Below ground, the distinctive Melbourne sunrise is reflected through orange ribs, pink shark-tooth shaped baffles, and yellow lighting brackets, drum feature lights and pendant feature lights. Colours are used consistently across the stations to provide a sense of familiarity across the network.

The colour of the above ground steelwork for each station responds to its context: verdant green at Anzac reflects the adjacent Botanic Gardens; blue at Parkville acknowledges the University and Hospital precinct's healthcare identity; purple at Town Hall references Federation Square’s distinctive sandstone streaks; Victorian-made brick at Arden celebrates the rich industrial history of North Melbourne; and State Library’s orange pays homage to the neighbouring City Bath’s terracotta. The saturated colours of the secondary portals present memorable wayfinding landmarks throughout the network.

This systematic, expressive colour strategy distinguishes Melbourne's Metro from Sydney's blue-dominated transport system, asserting a uniquely Melbourne identity that's both functional and celebratory of the city's heritage and natural beauty.

The lighting design for the Metro Tunnel stations plays a vital role in shaping the atmosphere and legibility of the stations and new public spaces. The lighting approach emphasises clarity, safety, and civic warmth. Rather than relying on uniform illumination, light is used to articulate architectural form — highlighting materials, defining movement through concourses, and accentuating the vault-like geometry of the platforms. Integrated linear fittings follow structural rhythms, while warmer tones at key thresholds soften the transition between the underground and the city above. Crafted with input from local manufacturers, the bespoke luminaires express Melbourne’s design culture and the project’s commitment to quality, enduring craftsmanship, and human-centred design.

As part of the wayfinding strategy and passenger experience, architectural features such as the ‘shark teeth’ on the ceiling have been specifically designed and have colour codes to indicate where you are in the station. For example, pink to indicate a passenger is heading out of a station and white when heading into a station.

The Metro Tunnel stations stand as a benchmark in sustainable, human-centred transport design. Through the use of natural light, durable materials, clear wayfinding and seamless connectivity, they provide not only efficiency but also civic generosity and a deep sense of place.

Ivan Harbour, Senior Design Director, RSHP said: “It has been a privilege to be part of the extraordinary effort by thousands of talented and skilled individuals collaborating to create Melbourne’s new metro together. The architecture of the stations is designed to lift the spirits of all those using the metro day to day. Each is unique, and all five are sensitive to their respective locations. The vision that inspired them is a reflection of Melbourne’s creative spirit. As each entrance portal now emerges, it begins to reshape how this remarkable city is navigated—today and well into the future. I hope that Melburnians enjoy riding their metro as much as we have enjoyed playing our part in its creation.”