The Devonshire Street Tunnel is a pedestrian tunnel located beneath the southern end of

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

connecting the suburb of

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...

with

Railway Square Railway Square is a plaza at the southern end of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia, formed by the confluence of Broadway, Sydney, Broadway, Lee Street, Pitt Street and George Street, Sydney, George Street. The squa ...

in the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

History

Devonshire Street Pedestrian Tunnel in the 1970s

Opened in 1906 joining as a pedestrian continuation of Devonshire Street in the east to Lee Street in the west, it cut through what was the

Devonshire Street Cemetery The Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, at Brickfield Hill, in Sydney, Australia. It was con ...

. In the early 1970s, the tunnel was refurbished with

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bindi ...

panels and

fluorescent lights A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, which produces short-wave ultraviolet lig ...

and extended to the west under

. In 1985 murals of trains and railway infrastructure were painted on the walls of the tunnel.

Route

At its eastern end, the tunnel begins at a

head house A head house or headhouse may be an enclosed building attached to an open-sided shed, or the aboveground part of a subway station. Markets In the 18th and early 19th centuries, head houses were often civic buildings such as town halls or courth ...

descending from Chalmers Street to a vestibule from which both Central station and the tunnel can be accessed. The tunnel continues west from the vestibule under the tracks and platforms of the station, and opens onto Henry Deane Plaza, a depressed urban square opposite Railway Square filled with shops and restaurants. The tunnel extension begins at a portal at the opposite end of Henry Deane Plaza, continuing under Lee Street, Railway Square, and George Street, each of these points at which it can be accessed by stairs and escalators. The tunnel extension then continues under the

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

Marcus Clark Building and finally opens up at a portal behind the International Institute of Business and Information Technology at 841 George Street, connecting it to

The Goods Line The Goods Line is an linear park and shared pedestrian pathway and cycleway in the suburb of Ultimo, in the City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The corridor connects Railway Square to Darling Harbour in the south and passes both the Un ...

, providing an off-street connection between Central station and

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

References

External links

{{Sydney landmarks, state=collapsed Tunnels in Sydney Tunnels completed in 1906 1906 establishments in Australia Pedestrian tunnels Sydney central business district Railway Square, Sydney Surry Hills, New South Wales George Street, Sydney

History

Route

See also

References

External links