Footscray railway station

Footscray
Commuter and regional rail station

Looking south from platform 6 in April 2010, with disused signal box on platform 5 in the foreground
Location Irving Street, Footscray
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
Owned by VicTrack
Operated by Metro Trains
Line(s) Sunbury
Werribee
Williamstown
Serviceton
Port Fairy
Distance 5.62 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms 6 (2 side, 2 island)
Tracks 6
Connections Bus
Tram
Construction
Structure type Ground
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Status Premium station
Station code FSY
Fare zone 1
Website Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened 17 January 1859
Electrified Yes
Services
Preceding station   Metro Trains   Following station
Sunbury line
toward Sunbury
Werribee line
toward Werribee
Williamstown line
toward Williamstown
Preceding station   V/Line   Following station
Terminus
Bendigo line
Serviceton line
Warrnambool line

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.[1][2]

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.[3]

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,[4] 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.

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] The two original stations were closed.[6]

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.[8]

In 2010, as a part of the Brumby State Government's Footscray renewal program,[9] 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,[10] 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.[11] In 2013 the new footbridge was partially demolished.[12]

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.[13] 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

Footbridge that links all platforms taken from Irving Street December 2011
The same view from Irving Street in May 2014
Westbound view from Platform 2 in May 2014
The South Kensington - West Footscray railway line cutting runs beneath the south-western end of Platforms 5 and 6 in September 2008

Footscray has six platforms. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Sunbury, Werribee and Williamstown services[14][15][16] and V/Line Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong services.[17][18][19]

Platform 1:

Platform 2:

Platform 3:

Platform 4:

Platform 5:

Platform 6:

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:

References

  1. ↑ Footscray Vicsig
  2. ↑ Footscray Station Rail Geelong
  3. ↑ Station Patronage Research Public Transport Victoria
  4. ↑ Lucas, Clay (2010-06-15). "$4.3b link won't cut travel times". The Age. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
  5. ↑ "Rail Geelong - Geelong Line History". railgeelong.com. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  6. 1 2 Infrastructure - Footscray Vicsig
  7. ↑ "The New Footscray Railway Station". The Independent. 9 December 1899. p. 3.
  8. ↑ "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1997. p. 310.
  9. ↑ "Transport Projects eNews". Department of Transport, Victoria. Retrieved 2013-01-19.
  10. ↑ Lucas, Clay (2 November 2010). "The great disconnect". The Age. Melbourne.
  11. ↑ "Colander Bridge". Fair-go for Footscray Rail Residents. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
  12. ↑ Millar, Benjamin (2013-02-06). "Footscray commuters face long wait for station works completion". Maribyrnong Weekly. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
  13. ↑ Major access changes V/Line January 2014
  14. ↑ Sunbury Line timetable Public Transport Victoria
  15. ↑ Werribee Line timetable Public Transport Victoria
  16. ↑ Williamstown Line timetable Public Transport Victoria
  17. ↑ Ballarat - Melbourne timetable Public Transport Victoria
  18. ↑ Bendigo - Melbourne timetable Public Transport Victoria
  19. ↑ Geelong - Melbourne timetable Public Transport Victoria
  20. ↑ Route 406 Yarraville - Footscray timetable Public Transport Victoria
  21. ↑ Route 409 Yarraville - Shopping Centre timetable Public Transport Victoria
  22. ↑ Route 410 Sunshine - Footscray timetable Public Transport Victoria
  23. ↑ Route 411 Laverton - Footscray timetable Public Transport Victoria
  24. ↑ Route 412 Laverton - Footscray timetable Public Transport Victoria
  25. ↑ Route 414 Laverton - Footscray timetable Public Transport Victoria
  26. ↑ Route 402 Footscray - East Melbourne timetable Public Transport Victoria
  27. ↑ Route 403 Footscray - University of Melbourne timetable Public Transport Victoria
  28. ↑ Route 404 Footscray - Moonee Ponds timetable Public Transport Victoria
  29. ↑ Route 472 Williamstown - Moonee Ponds timetable Public Transport Victoria
  30. ↑ Route 216 Caroline Springs - Brighton Beach timetable Public Transport Victoria
  31. ↑ Route 219 Sunshine Park - Gardenvale timetable Public Transport Victoria
  32. ↑ Route 223 Yarraville - Highpoint Shopping Centre timetable Public Transport Victoria
  33. ↑ Route 82 Moonee Ponds - Footscray timetable Public Transport Victoria
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