Today’s the day! I finally had an opportunity to try out the new Metro Tunnel. And it’s stunning. The construction team did an amazing job. Given that the last significant rail project around CBD was the City Loop, which opened in the 1980’s, it’s certainly nice to have something resembling a modern metro system, complete with features like curtain doors and carriage density indicators. But the new stations had a timeless design aesthetic to them: I want to say Art Deco, but I’m too much of a layman to be certain. In either case, I love it. To say that it celebrates commuter rail travel may be a stretch, but it’s clear they put a lot of effort into the design language for these stations, and it absolutely shows.

Anyway, here’s a gallery of the photos I took of my ride:

I didn’t get a chance to see Town Hall, but it was a lot of fun checking out the new stations, and I was by far the only one. It being the end of the second week of operations, and all public transport being free over the weekend, I’d imagine most were simply taking a look at this spanking new bit of infrastructure. But I’m already hearing from people I know that this would help a lot with getting to and around the city, so I think this tunnel will be a success. I too have my plans for integrating this into my own commute.