General Motors railway station, Melbourne

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General Motors
Station information

Code	GMH
Distance from Flinders St	33.8 km
Line	Pakenham
Number of platforms	2
Number of tracks	2
Station status	Closed station
Station facilities, connecting transport and timetables	No info available
Melway map of station	Link
Google map of station	Link
Zone location	2

Looking down at former General Motors factory site from General Motors railway station's footbridge.

General Motors is a disused railway station on the Pakenham line of the Melbourne suburban rail system. It is located between Dandenong and Hallam stations, in the suburb of Dandenong South.

1 History
2 Current status
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The station was originally opened on November 18, 1956 to service the General Motors factory next door, replacing a locked siding nearby. For most of its life, it existed as a private station for the factory itself. Visitors from the Signalling Record Society had to obtain permission from General Motors and be accompanied by a security guard while at the station. It was equipped with two platforms and a footbridge into the factory, which was the only other form of access.

In 1991, the General Motors factory closed down, leaving the station essentially isolated. It remained open for a further eleven years, despite the closure and demolition of the factory, and the fact that the footbridge now led to a fenced-off, empty paddock where the factory had once stood. It was estimated to be the least patronized station in the entire city network, with only an average of eight passengers using it a day. By the time it closed, only eight trains stopped at the station each day - four each way.

The only means of accessing the station was to jump off the platform and cross over the tracks on foot, as no new accesses were built after the closure of the factory. This meant that it was one of only two stations on the Melbourne network to be inaccessible to wheelchairs (the other one being Heyington). The Public Transport Users Association asked that it be upgraded due to industrial growth in the area. However, M>Train, who operated the Pakenham line at the time, requested permission to close the station in 2002, due to "safety concerns and a lack of legal access". The last trains stopped at the station on July 28, 2002.

[edit] Current status

The station remains in limbo, as the government's contract with the train operator requires them (formerly M>Train, now Connex) to list the station on their timetables, even though no trains stop there. Posters about the closure referred to a "temporary suspension". However, the station is no longer displayed on any public transport maps. As of late 2004, all signage had been removed, "KEEP OUT" signage had been installed, and access to the footbridge between platforms had been fenced off. However, station announcements on the line still, as of 2006, state that trains will stop at "all stations except General Motors".

M>Train did not rule out the possibility of re-opening the station at a future time. (The former M>Train network is now operated by Connex, and any plans this company may have for the station are unknown).