Given the previous issues with diesel fumes beneath the roof at Southern Cross Station, one might think feeding even more diesel exhaust into the station environment would be something to avoid. However, the reality is quite different.
A few months ago on platform 13 and 14 two portable light towers appeared – each is powered by a diesel generator in the base, burbling away all night long.
Once the sun goes down, the new lights leave the platform with an acceptable level of brightness.
Once upon a time the entire concrete deck that forms the roof of platforms 13 through 16 was illuminated.
But for some reason, these lights seem to have gone dark.
The exception being a small station at the Bourke Street end of the station.
So are the lights at Southern Cross Station broken, or is something else going on?
One possibility
Over the past year or so the new 699 Bourke Street development atop the western end of Southern Cross Station has been taking shape.
Have the works atop the station required that the lights on the ceiling be switched off for safety reasons?
May 2016 update
Still broken!
October 2016 update
An ‘interim lighting solution’ will be installed at Southern Cross platforms 13 and 14.
The solution is a mix of LED floodlights and fluorescent batten lights fixed to existing vertical supports, powered via aerial hung cables 3 metres or so above the platform.
I wonder when a permanent fix will be put in place?
January 2017 update
The LED floodlights didn’t last long – some of the fixtures on platform 14 have already failed.
What will happen first – another ‘interim lighting solution’ failure, or installation of a permanent system?
Did the station ever get its massive, taxpayer-funded exhaust fans mentioned in the 2011 Age article? Any photos of them?
It still seemed pretty fumey last time I was there.
Google Maps currently says their imagery is ‘copyright 2015’ so it is presumably up to date, but nothing that looks like exhaust fans is visible on the roof of Southern Cross Station:
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.8183797,144.9527756,116m/data=!3m1!1e3
Either the fans are well hidden away in the roof, were never installed, or were just installed in the areas where shops are located.
It has been a year now and someone is making huge money out of this generator hire scam.
The latest rumour that I’ve heard is that the 699 Bourke / 664 Collins Street development cut into electrical cables in the concrete deck atop the platforms, and now Mirvac and the station authority are fighting over who has to pay for the repairs.
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