Skip Navigation
Melbourne @aussie.zone
MHLoppy2 @aussie.zone

Thousands of people pass through this station each day, but experts say it has some of the worst air in Melbourne

  • In short: Data detailing the air quality at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station has been released for the first time.
  • It shows nitrogen dioxide levels in parts of the station have regularly been more than 90 times the guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
  • The Victorian government and the station's operator say they've been meeting Australian workplace standards.
15 comments

  • Yea well, putting a bunch of buses and diesel trains under an enclosed roof was always going to have problems like this. That sort of thing should be at an open air station.

    As much as I like the design, this seems like some precious architect was allowed to do what they wanted and no one actually engineered the problem.

    Seems similar to fed square actually (it’s clearly not a well designed public square however much you like the design of the buildings).

    • What's wrong with fed square?

        • it faces or looks onto a road and tram stop.
        • a bunch of buildings obstructs any view of or access to the much more pleasing river and kings domain and st Kilda rd, which should be the focus of attention.
        • it’s slanted down toward swanston as though you’re not supposed to be there. Additionally, there’s no central focus or attraction to make it seem like a place you can just hang out in. The back of the square feels and looks exactly like that, the back of some area. The stage and screen kind of make it a place but only when they have something on.
        • all the eateries are expensive and “fancy” rather than providing just normal stuff for people to consume not as an event but an act of gathering and communing with each other. Beer deluxe might be an exception but that’s literally outside the square.
        • no shade or trees or greenery.
        • only sitting area is on the swanston street edge looking, again, at the tram stop rather than the river or anything interesting inside the square.
        • the building designs are fine, I don’t mind them, but I don’t think they’re interesting or special, there’s nothing about them that make you want to be there and look at them IMO.

        I’d compare it Southbank with IMO works better. It’s in the river, has trees, places to just be (sitting on the river) and more varied dining options.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:

    A representative from Southern Cross Ptd Ltd, a subsidiary of Civic Nexus, told him the station met government project requirements and compliance and it would not enter any further discussion with him.

    Lou Irving is one of Victoria's leading respiratory doctors — head of the Lung Tumour Stream at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

    When Professor Irving read through the Southern Cross air monitoring data, he immediately noticed how high the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels were in the bus terminal area.

    A health and safety log from workers for three years up until 2010 shows staff at that time were routinely reporting sore throats and eyes, nausea and some vomiting while working in noticeable diesel fumes.

    Those workplace standards for NO2 are 3,000 parts per billion averaged over eight hours and haven't changed in more than 30 years, despite scientists' understanding of the effects of air pollution developing a great deal.

    "Where we have not yet been in a position to convert the fleet to battery electric buses we monitor performance such as idle times to avoid unnecessary pollution and fossil fuel consumption," said Michael Sewards, co-CEO of Kinetic, which owns SkyBus.

    The original article contains 2,259 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 91%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

15 comments