Parliament railway station, Melbourne

Parliament railway station is an underground station on the metro network in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of five stations (and one of three underground) on the City Loop, which encircles the Melbourne CBD. In 2011/12 it was the 4th busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 10.7 million passenger movements.The station services Melbourne's government district, and is underneath the Parliament House of Victoria and the intersection of Bourke and Spring Streets, at the eastern end of the CBD.HistoryThe station platforms were constructed using mining methods. Each platform is an individual tunnel, and are linked to the other platform in the same level by a number of cross tunnels. This choice in design left the remaining pillar of rock between the tunnels too weak to support the required loads, so it was replaced with concrete. A pilot tunnel was made, enabling the walls to be constructed ahead of the main excavation.The booking hall to the south was constructed 'upside down', with the support columns dug with augers from ground level, then filled with concrete. The roof was then constructed over these piles from ground level during a series of staged road closures, and once this was completed the excavation of the booking hall could be carried out underneath, while road traffic continued overhead. During construction the Parliament House fence had to be removed, stored then re-erected.The station opened on 22 January 1983. At the time of opening the station had the longest escalators in the southern hemisphere.