Owned by VicTrack Platforms 6 (2 side, 2 island) Phone +61 3 9610 8554 Owner VicTrack | Operated by Metro Trains Opened 17 January 1859 Station status Premium station | |
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Location Irving Street, Footscray Line(s) Sunbury
Werribee
Williamstown
Serviceton
Port Fairy Distance 5.62 kilometres from Southern Cross Address Hopkins St & Irving St, Footscray VIC 3011, Australia Similar Middle Footscray railway st, Sunshine railway station - M, North Melbourne railway st, Southern Cross railway st, Laverton railway station - M | ||
Regional rail link west footscray railway station
Footscray railway station is located on the Sunbury, Werribee and Williamstown lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the western Melbourne suburb of Footscray opening on 17 January 1859.
Contents
- Regional rail link west footscray railway station
- Regional rail link footscray railway station
- History
- Platforms services
- Transport links
- References
It is also serviced by V/Line Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong services. In 2011/12 it was the sixth busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 4.2 million passenger movements recorded.
A disused signal box is located on the island platform at the Flinders Street end of platform 5, and a pair of dual gauge tracks form the mainly freight only South Kensington-West Footscray line under the station, running in a cutting before entering the Bunbury Street tunnel, providing a rail link to the Port of Melbourne and other freight terminals, as well as access to Southern Cross for the NSW TrainLink XPT, The Overland, and V/Line Albury services.
Regional rail link footscray railway station
History
On 17 January 1859 the railways arrived in Footscray when the new Williamstown line opened with trains running from Spencer Street in Melbourne to the important cargo port of Williamstown. This railway connected to the 18-month-old Geelong railway at the junction near where the current Newport station lies. The railway between Melbourne and Footscray, via the new station at North Melbourne, had been made possible with the construction of a railway bridge over the Maribyrnong River. The first station to open in Footscray opened on this line on the opening day of service; it was not, however, where the current Footscray station lies, but was situated on Napier Street.
Shortly afterwards, Footscray became a junction station when a second railway, branching at Footscray, was opened to Sunbury. By 1862 this railway had been extended to Sandhurst (later renamed Bendigo). Therefore, on 1 March 1859, less than two months after the first, Footscray's second railway station opened on Nicholson Street, not far from the other one, for services on the new railway line. A signal box was provided at the junction from 1879.
On 16 September 1900 the current station opened, located at the precise point of junction of the two lines. The two original stations were closed.
A number of sidings once existed at the station, now covered by car parking on the eastern side of the Newport bound lines.
The two tracks under the station were opened on 21 October 1928 as part of the South Kensington-West Footscray line, and were dual-gauged in the early 1960s as part of the construction of the Melbourne-Albury standard gauge line. Quadruplication of the tracks towards Melbourne in November 1976 put an end to the junction and closed the signal box. The building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
It was upgraded to a Premium station on 31 May 1996, although the enclosed waiting area and ticket facilities were built in 1993 as part of the 'Travel Safe' program in the early 1990s.
In 2010, as a part of the Brumby State Government's Footscray renewal program, the existing footbridge over the platforms, which was accessed by ramps, was replaced with a $15 million footbridge. The bridge, named after indigenous activist William Cooper, has stairs and associated lifts. Complaints have been made that the new footbridge is less usable than the one it replaced. It has a roof, but that has not been designed to be weatherproof, and the lifts are prone to breakdown. In 2013 the new footbridge was partially demolished.
As part of the Regional Rail Link, an additional two platforms were built to the north of the existing platforms to separate Metro Trains Sunbury services from V/Line services to Ballarat and Bendigo. In January 2014, platforms 1 to 4 were renumbered 3 to 6 with the new platforms commissioned as platforms 1 and 2. At the same time, Platforms 3 and 4 were closed to be rebuilt as dedicated platforms for V/Line services, reopening in July 2014.
Platforms & services
Footscray has six platforms. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Sunbury, Werribee and Williamstown services and V/Line Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong services.
Platform 1:
Platform 2:
Platform 3:
Platform 4:
Platform 5:
Platform 6:
Transport links
CDC Melbourne operate six routes via Footscray station:
Sita Buslines operate four routes via Footscray station:
Transdev Melbourne operate three routes via Footscray station:
Yarra Trams operates one route to and from Footscray station: