Host station

A host station is a category of railway station on Melbourne's suburban rail network which is operated by Metro Trains Melbourne.^[1] In terms of station standards, a host station is a middle standard station which sits between the low standard unmanned stations and the high standard premium stations.

Host stations have the following facilities available during morning peak times (typically 6 am - 10 am Monday to Friday):^[1]

• Open male and female toilets
• Typically two station hosts (customer service staff who assist passengers with queries and ticketing) and/or
• An open, staffed customer service centre (booking office), in most cases providing the same services as those of premium stations during hours where staff are available.

The Host Station program was introduced by the Victorian Department of Transport in the early 2000s to ensure that over 80 per cent of suburban rail passengers started their journey from a staffed (host or premium) station.^[1] Like most other Melbourne railway stations, host stations contain ticketing facilities, Passenger Information Displays, CCTV video survalience cameras and passenger information display boards (displaying timetables, maps, network performance, disruption notices, etc.) which are available from the first train of the day to the last.^[2]

Contents 1 Current host stations 1.1 Stations to remain as host stations 1.2 Stations to be upgraded to premium stations 2 Future host stations 3 References 4 See also

Current host stations

There is currently a total of 26 host stations across Melbourne.^[2] Once nine stations are upgraded from host to premium and 22 from unmanned to host in the near future, there will eventually be a total of 39 host stations across the network.

Stations to remain as host stations

For the present time, these 16 stations will not receive any upgrades and will remain host stations for the foreseeable future:

Albion Armadale Ascot Vale Auburn

Fairfield Glenhuntly Heatherdale Huntingdale

Jolimont Malvern Middle Brighton Moonee Ponds

Murrumbeena Ripponlea Tooronga Yarraville

Stations to be upgraded to premium stations

These 10 stations will be upgraded to premium station status in the near future:

Balaclava Carnegie Holmesglen Hoppers Crossing

Newmarket North Brighton Ormond

Prahran Syndal Windsor

Future host stations

These 22 stations will be upgraded from being unmanned to host station status between June and September 2010:

Burwood Canterbury Gardiner Glenbervie Hawksburn

Hawthorn Hughesdale Kensington Merlynston McKinnon Oak Park

Pascoe Vale Regent Rosanna Royal Park Sandown Park

Spotswood Strathmore Toorak Tottenham West Footscray

References

See also

• Premium station
• Metro Trains Melbourne
• Metlink Melbourne