South Kensington railway station, Melbourne

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South Kensington
Station information

Code	SKN
Distance from Flinders St	4.7 km
Lines	Sydenham, Werribee, Williamstown
# Platforms	2
# Tracks	4
Status	Unmanned station
Metlink profile	Link
Melway map	Link
Metcard Zone	1

South Kensington is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Werribee, Sydenham and Williamstown lines in the suburb of Kensington. The station is unmanned with very basic waiting facilities, and is located in Metcard ticketing Zone 1. A majority of Sydenham line trains bypass the station, running along a pair of tracks located to the north.

[edit] Facilities

South Kensington has two side platforms, with access provided by a pedestrian underpass at the city end. Platform 1 is provided with a number of bus stop style shelters, on a narrow platform on stilts. Platform 2 is wider with a single bus stop style shelter. A coin-only Metcard vending machine and two validators are located in the subway.

Freight lines exist to the south of the station, the closest are used by V/Line to reverse empty trains from Traralgon and Bairnsdale line services, while the ones further south are used by a variety of standard gauge freight operators. The lines to the east join Melbourne Yard while those to the west are the South Kensington-West Footscray line that leads to either South Dynon or West Footscray via the Bunbury Street tunnel.

[edit] History

South Kensington opened in 1891. Private sidings around South Kensington included the Four and Twenty Pies factory to the north east (now demolished and an industrial park), a warehouse and silos the the east (open but now not rail served), and two sidings to the north: Kensington Abattoirs and Kenstore (the first in the process of demolition, the second now residential)

The current configuration dates from 1976 when the line between South Kensington and Footscray was quadruplicated. On December 17, 2004, The first X'trapolis 100 to run in revenue service made a special trip from Flinders Street to South Kensington and back again.