Hundreds of drivers ready to drive through the Metro Tunnel

The Metro Tunnel is another step closer to opening later this year, with nearly 500 drivers now trained and ready to take passengers through the tunnel and five new stations.

This is more than the number needed for the opening of the tunnel, with drivers undertaking training on the cutting-edge systems and technology that will be used on Victoria’s new train line.

Eventually there will be more than 1000 drivers trained on the Metro Tunnel – the majority of drivers on the metropolitan network.

Train driver Cindy Champness, who has been driving for nearly six years, said training had been critical to understanding the High-Capacity Metro Trains – the dedicated fleet that will run through the tunnels.

“It’s very different, it’s a lot more computerised,” Ms Champness said.

“It’s got a lot more features in it that we can monitor what the train’s doing and showing us.”

Training has included a mix of classroom, practical and on-the-job training, where the trainee drivers are accompanied by a trainer while operating passenger services.

As with any new infrastructure, extra training has been provided to qualified drivers to allow them to drive in the new tunnels. This includes training on the project’s next-generation signalling system and the use of the Victorian-first platform screen doors.

Lyndel Connolly, who first started driving trains in 2011, said it was an exciting time for those working on the rail network.

“It’s a job that I love,” Ms Connolly said.

“Driving a train is magnificent. It’s such good fun.”

While driver training continues as part of the project’s trial operations phase, station staff are also being trained in the many processes and procedures that will be needed to operate the new stations safely.

More than 200 station staff, including station masters, senior station officers, station officers and station assistants, will work across the Metro Tunnel’s new five new stations – Arden in North Melbourne, Parkville, State Library and Town Hall under Swanston St in the CBD and Anzac on St Kilda Rd.

The project is the biggest upgrade of Melbourne’s train network since the City Loop opened in 1981.

It will free up space in the City Loop by creating a new end-to-end rail line from Sunbury in the north-west to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south-east – via a new tunnel under the city. •