Huge cavern carved out below Sydney CBD as Hunter Street Station takes shape

Excavation has been ongoing around the clock for 20 months to create the giant cavern, which measures 180-metres long, 28 metres wide and 20 metres high.  

Hunter Street Station will serve as the final stop on the 24-kilometre Sydney Metro West line that will double rail capacity between Greater Parramatta and the Sydney CBD.

When the line opens in 2032, the station, which will have entrances on the corner of George and Hunter streets and on the corner of O’Connell and Bligh streets, is expected to be the busiest on the Sydney Metro West network.

To build the station cavern, one roadheader and a team of 57 workers removed more than 240,000 tonnes of material, enough to fill more than 290 Olympic size swimming pools.  

Due to the cavern’s central Sydney location, meticulous planning and sub-millimetre accuracy was essential throughout excavation. At times, work took place just 1.8 metres from the M1 Metro Line and directly below iconic landmarks including the heritage-listed State Library of New South Wales and The Domain. 

For more information about the project, visit: sydneymetro.info/west/project-overview.