Sydney Metro Central Station, Australia
Aurecon played a leading design role in the $955 million project to transform Sydney’s Central Station – Australia’s busiest rail interchange.
Change your location to view content tailored for you.
Wynyard Station has long served Sydney’s central business district seeing more than 110,000 pedestrian movements every day. However, during summer in past years, the platforms at the station were notorious for uncomfortable heat and humidity.
Novo Rail*, an alliance of Transport for NSW (TfNSW), in partnership with Aurecon, Laing O’Rourke and John Holland worked together to overcome this complex engineering challenge, while keeping the station open for business.
Installing air-conditioning was not an option due to the high movement of air into and out of the station with each train movement. The best means to provide heat relief was via a localised cooling system that projected cooler air directly onto the passengers. This approach required testing prior to final design and application. To do this, Aurecon explored the solution using digital design and virtual reality. The process commenced by developing a digital model of the cooling system design.
Being the second busiest station on the network, it was not possible to test potential solutions on-site so Aurecon worked with its Novo Rail partners to establish a simulated environment within the station building. This virtual reality application allowed the team to test multiple system design scenarios as if they were passengers moving around in the actual rail station.
In setting up the simulated environment, Aurecon used 3D printing to produce air-diffuser prototypes, with their design inspired by an aircraft’s environmental control unit (ECU) where nozzles above each passenger seat are controlled as individual temperature ‘zones’.
The team recreated the Wynyard Station platform on a hot day, complete with heat and humidity. Project stakeholders lowered virtual reality goggles over their eyes to be placed into the simulation and have the air nozzles positioned as they would on actual train station platforms.
The testing process allowed the project team to take the client and stakeholders along on the journey, starting with a collaborative design workshop, right through to a physical demonstration of the solution the team had collectively devised.
The test environment fully engaged the test subjects throughout the simulation process, and optimised high-quality and constructive feedback. After the simulated testing had been deemed a success, a platform trial was undertaken on Platforms 3 and 4 during the peak of summer, followed by installation of the full heat relief system to remain operational at the station.
The project has won the following awards:
*Novo Rail is an alliance of Transport for NSW in partnership with Aurecon, Laing O’Rourke and John Holland Group, working as one team to deliver infrastructure projects across Sydney’s rail network. Projects range from power supply upgrades and track improvements to station upgrades. This infrastructure is transforming the state’s rail network, making it easier for people to travel and connect.
Aurecon played a leading design role in the $955 million project to transform Sydney’s Central Station – Australia’s busiest rail interchange.
Aurecon is leading the design of Australia’s biggest public infrastructure project to provide Sydney with world-class fast, safe and reliable trains.
Aurecon delivers an integrated communications and stakeholder engagement strategy to support the construction of the Wynyard Station Upgrade.
