Footscray railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Footscray

Looking south from platform 6 in April 2010, with disused signal box on platform 5 in the foreground
Station statistics
Coordinates 37°48′06″S 144°54′09″E / 37.8016°S 144.9024°E / -37.8016; 144.9024Coordinates: 37°48′06″S 144°54′09″E / 37.8016°S 144.9024°E / -37.8016; 144.9024
Platforms 4
Tracks 4
Other information
Station code FSY
Owned by VicTrack
Operator Metro Trains
myki zone 1
Station status Premium Station
Melway map Link
Website Link, includes timetables
Services
Preceding station   Metro Trains   Following station
North Melbourne
 Sunbury line
Middle Footscray
toward Sunbury
South Kensington
 Werribee line
Seddon
toward Werribee
Williamstown line
Seddon
toward Williamstown
Preceding station   V/Line   Following station
North Melbourne
 Bendigo line
toward Bendigo
Ballarat line
toward Ararat or Wendouree
Geelong line
Location
Link

Footscray is an Australian railway station in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. It is located at the junction of the Sunbury and Werribee railway lines. The Williamstown line also passes through the station, along with V/Line services to the south-west, west, and north-west of Victoria. Footscray is classed as a Premium Station and is in myki Zone 1. It is the sixth busiest station in Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 4.2 million passenger movements recorded in 2011/12.[1]

Facilities

Footbridge that links all platforms with the surrounding streets in December 2011
The South Kensington - West Footscray railway line cutting runs beneath the south-western end of platforms 5 and 6 in September 2008

Footscray station is located between Irving Street and Hyde Street, with station access from Irving Street, Hyde Street, and McNab Avenue.

The station consists of 2 island platforms and two side platforms; Platform 1 has a red station building housing the new ticket office, waiting area and toilets, Platform 2 & 3 has a red brick building, platform 4 & 5 has a larger red brick building which once housed an enclosed waiting area, ticket facilities and toilets, while platform 6 has a red brick building similar to that on platform 2 & 3.

Tram route 82 terminates near the station, on Leeds Street. Car parking facilities are available in Hyde Street. A footbridge is situated at the Down end of the station.

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 (completed in 1928),[2] 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 standard gauge V/Line trains to Albury.

Platforms, services, connect, bus & trams services

Platform 1:

Platform 2:

Platfrom 3:

Platform 4:

  • Not in use, being refurbished for the Rwgional Rail Link project, scheduled to reopen in 2014 as a dedicated platform for outbound V/Line services

Platform 5:

Platform 6:

Buses from Footscray Station:

Trams from Footscray Station:

History

The original stations

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.[3] 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.[4] A signal box was provided at the junction from 1879.

Current station

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.[4]

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 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.[5]

In 2010, as a part of the Brumby State Government's Footscray renewal program,[6] 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,[7] 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.[8] In 2013 the new footbridge was partially demolished.[9]

As part of the Regional Rail Link, an additional two platforms have been built to the north of the existing platforms, that will 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.[10] Platforms 3 and 4 were closed in January 2014 and are being rebuilt as dedicated platforms for V/Line services.

References

  1. ↑ Station Patronage Research Public Transport Victoria
  2. ↑ Lucas, Clay (2010-06-15). "$4.3b link won't cut travel times". The Age. Retrieved 2013-02-19. 
  3. ↑ "Rail Geelong - Geelong Line History". railgeelong.com. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Infrastructure - Footscray Vicsig
  5. ↑ "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail (Australian Railway Heritage Society (Victorian Division)): page 310. October 1997. 
  6. ↑ "Transport Projects eNews". Department of Transport, Victoria. Retrieved 2013-01-19. 
  7. ↑ Lucas, Clay (2 November 2010). "The great disconnect". The Age (Melbourne). 
  8. ↑ "Colander Bridge". Fair-go for Footscray Rail Residents. Retrieved 2013-02-19. 
  9. ↑ Millar, Benjamin (2013-02-06). "Footscray commuters face long wait for station works completion". Maribyrnong Weekly. Retrieved 2013-02-19. 
  10. ↑ Major access changes V/Line January 2014

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Footscray railway station, Melbourne.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.