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The cavernous interior of the new metro station at Barangaroo,on the western side of Sydney’s CBD.Credit:Rhett Wyman

Unlike the271-metre Crown Tower,a controversial addition to Sydney’s fast-growing skyline,the only indication that a train station is buried beneath Barangaroo is a discreet entrance for escalators and a lift near Nawi Cove,an inlet near the headland.

Perched on the edge of Sydney Harbour,Barangaroo is arguably one of the finest of the six new stations along the$21.6 billion Metro City and Southwest rail line between Chatswood and Bankstown via the CBD. The interior feels more spacious and exquisite than the newly namedGadigal station near Town Hall.

Sandstone cladding on the station’s walls is a dominant feature,making the interior light and nodding to the surrounding area. The 7766 sandstone panels were sourced from a quarry about 50 kilometres north of Sydney,while 14,000 terrazzo tiles for the station’s floor were imported from Italy.

“We think it steals the show – it is something special,” said Luke Hunter from BESIX Watpac,a subsidiary of a Belgian company that built the station.

The fit-out of the 240-metre-long station looks complete,amajor change from a year ago when it still resembled a building site.

Hickson Road runs over the top of the metro station at Barangaroo.Credit:Rhett Wyman

Commuters will walk through only about one-fifth of the 19,000-square-metre station. The rest is back-of-house,including about 50 plant equipment rooms which support the operation of the station and the railway. It contains a staggering 260 kilometres of electrical cabling,all of which is out of public view.

Each of the six new stations along the main section of the line under the harbour and CBD has different design touches and architectural features.

Sydney Metro City and Southwest project director Hugh Lawson said the stations were “similar but deliberately different” to help passengers recognise where they are when they get off trains.

About 15 metres below ground at Barangaroo,commuters will pass through ticket gates on the main concourse level. Accessible by escalators and lifts,the 170-metre-long train platforms are a further 10 metres underground.

Lawson said the construction of a major open space for the station beneath Hickson Road,and beside the harbour,presented a raft of challenges.

“From an engineering perspective,building a major metro underground station with all those other constraints and a heritage wall in a parkland right next to the harbour is about as challenging as you can get,” he said.

Constructing the station underneath Hickson Road required the busy thoroughfare to be shifted multiple times. The road’s alignment first had to be changed to build a temporary structure for the station,and the road then moved back over top,before excavating underneath and later constructing the station’s permanent structure.

“That was a very carefully planned process to be able to build a major civil engineering structure underneath the road,” Lawson said.

When the main section of the Metro City and Southwest opens in the middle of the year,the station at Barangaroo will open up access to the waterfront promenade and headland park,as well as the Walsh Bay arts precinct and the Rocks.

A journey to Barangaroo from North Sydney will take three minutes,while from Central Station it will be six minutes,and 13 minutes from Sydenham. “It opens up Barangaroo in a totally different way,” Lawson said.

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