St Paul’s proudly stands at the heart of what will be a new MetroRail station precinct extending from Federation Square to the Town Hall to serve the people of Melbourne. The Cathedral looks forward to working with MetroRail and the City of Melbourne to deliver this important project.
From 2017, Melbourne’s City Square will become an excavation site to create a new MetroRail station. St Paul’s Cathedral is one of the Square’s closest neighbours, and expects the Cathedral precinct to be impacted by the construction works. St Paul’s has made a submission in response to the Melbourne MetroRail Environmental Effects Statement (available on the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website) and looks forward to being part of the public hearing of the Melbourne MetroRail Project Environmental Effects Statement Enquiry and Advisory Committee.
The Dean of Melbourne, Dr Andreas Loewe, said: ‘We welcome the creation of a new MetroRail line that provides important new public transport capacity for our city. I meet regularly with MetroRail senior staff to ensure that the Cathedral’s heritage and precinct are maintained to their best ability during the construction phase. We look forward to contributing to a panel hearing on the Environmental Effects next month. We are hopeful that the panel will help identify the best possible way of delivering this once in a generation project’.
The Cathedral is liaising closely with Melbourne MetroRail to ensure that the 125-year-old building is not adversely effected by the impact of creating the CBD South Station. In particular, St Paul’s has commissioned studies on the impact of vibration and dust on the building and its historic fittings and musical instruments, and has made detailed information about its regular worship and events available to the Advisory Committee Hearing to ensure that its life, work and witness are not impaired by the project.
St Paul’s will continue working closely with MetroRail to address any concerns that may arise during the construction phase, to ensure that the Cathedral precinct remains a place of welcome and sanctuary for the 400,000 visitors and worshippers who come here each year.
Dr Loewe said: ‘We are working with MetroRail and its partners to make sure that St Paul’s remains the place of peace and prayer, witness and beauty at the heart of our city and state that it is today. We are very proud of our Cathedral, and are honoured by the love Melburnians have for our beautiful church. We believe that there could be no more fitting tribute to this wonderful building than naming the station that will be built alongside us “St Paul’s Cathedral”.’