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Flinders Street Station
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Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban rail network of Melbourne, Australia. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the heart of the city, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city blocks.
Each weekday, over 110,000 commuters and 1,500 trains pass through the station. Flinders Street is serviced by Connex's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland.
The Melburnian idiom "I'll meet you under the clocks" refers to the row of clocks above the main entrance, which indicate the departure time of the next train on each line.
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Encyclopedia
Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban rail network of Melbourne, Australia. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the heart of the city, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city blocks.
Each weekday, over 110,000 commuters and 1,500 trains pass through the station. Flinders Street is serviced by Connex's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland.
The Melburnian idiom "I'll meet you under the clocks" refers to the row of clocks above the main entrance, which indicate the departure time of the next train on each line. This is a popular meeting place, at the intersection of two of the city's busiest thoroughfares. The station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
History
The first railway station to occupy the Flinders Street site was called Melbourne or City Terminus, and was a collection of weatherboard train sheds. It was completed in 1854 and was officially opened on 12 September by the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Charles Hotham. The terminus was the first city railway station in Australia, and the opening day saw the first steam train trip in the country. It travelled to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), over the now redeveloped Sandridge Bridge, travelling along the now light rail Port Melbourne line.
Melbourne's two other early central-city stations, Spencer Street Station (now Southern Cross Station) and Princes Bridge, opened in 1859. Spencer Street was isolated from the rest of the network until a ground level railway was built connecting it to Flinders Street in 1879, this track being replaced by the Flinders Street Viaduct in 1889.
Princes Bridge was originally separated from Flinders Street, even though it was only on the opposite side of Swanston Street. Once the railway line was extended under the street to join the two, Princes Bridge slowly became amalgamated into Flinders Street. Federation Square now occupies its site.
Current building
In 1882 the government decided to build a new central passenger station to replace the existing ad-hoc construction. A world-wide design competition was held in 1899, with 17 entries received. The £500 first prize went to railway employees J. W. Fawcett and H. P. C. Ashworth, whose design included a giant dome and clock tower. Work began in 1905 and ended in 1910. One of the original platform verandas from the Melbourne Terminus building was dismantled and re-erected at Hawthorn station, in the inner-eastern suburbs.
Rumours persist that the design for Flinders Street Station was originally designated for Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai, India. However, no convincing evidence, other than architectural similarities to other buildings in their respective cities, has been produced to support the rumour. In São Paulo, Brazil, Luz Station, the main railway station of that city, was inspired by the lines of Flinders Street Station.
The building contains a number of rooms along the Flinders Street frontage, including station offices, and a disused ballroom. The building once featured a creche inside the main dome for a number of years, with an open-air playground on an adjoining roof.
The first electric train operated from Flinders Street to Essendon in 1919, and by 1926 it was the world's busiest passenger station. To cater for the increasing numbers of passengers, the Degraves Street subway from the station was extended to the north side of Flinders Street in 1954. In March 1966 platform one was extended to long.
The original analogue clocks were replaced for a short time with digital ones, but due to a public outcry analogue ones were quickly returned. Plans arose at various times from the 1960s to the 1970s for the demolition of the station and replacement with an office building, but were never carried out. By the 1970s the station was in a state of disrepair.
On June 29, 1980 a number of platforms at the station were renumbered in conjunction with the formal merger of Princes Bridge Station with Flinders Street.
Refurbishment
In 1984 Flinders Street Station underwent a $7 million refurbishment. New ramps were provided to platforms which were less steep than those previous, and overhead skylights added to provide better lighting. The main station concourse was tiled and extended westward over the tracks, 16 new shops opened on the concourse, and a restaurant was opened on the southern side along the river, now the "Clocks on Flinders" poker machine venue. The main steps were embedded with electrical circuits to keep them dry in June 1985.
The 1990s saw the first escalators at the station provided to platform 2 and 3 replacing the former ramps, and the Elizabeth Street pedestrian subway was opened out at the Southbank end. Further changes were made with the opening of access from the main Swanston Street concourse to platform 1, platform resurfacing with tactile tiles, and the replacement of the remainder of the main platform access ramps with escalators and elevators.
The final round of changes were completed by 2007. It included refurbishment of the building roof and concourse foundations, an upgrade of platform 10 with escalators and a lift replacing the ramp, the relocation of all ticket booking offices to the main entrance under the main dome and new LCD Passenger Information Displays (PIDS) installed on the platforms, subways and concourse.
The works on the main concourse were carried out to permit the commercial leasing of space in the station for retail use. $150,000 has also been put aside to investigate the potential of the public spaces in the station. The investigation will be overseen by a taskforce comprising representatives from Connex, the Committee for Melbourne, Melbourne City Council, Heritage Victoria and the National Trust.
Platforms/Services
Flinders Street Station's platforms are numbered from north to south, with Platform No. 1 being the furthest north, and generally serve specific lines as follows.
Platform 1:
Platforms 2 & 3:
Platforms 4 & 5:
Platforms 6 & 7:
Platforms 8 & 9:
Platform 10:
Platforms 12 & 13:
Platform 14:
- Various suburban Connex services.
The eastern end of Platform No. 1 is designated as Platform No. 14, located under the main concourse past the Platform 1 escalators. Platforms 12 and 13 are located under the main concourse at the eastern end of platforms 10 and 11. Platform 11 is currently not in use and is trackless. Platforms 15 and 16 were part of the former Princes Bridge Station on the northern side of Platform No. 14, and were both demolished during the construction of Federation Square.
Three concourses link the platforms. The main concourse is at the east end of the station, located off Swanston Street and the main dome, and has direct access to all platforms via escalators, stairs and lifts. The Degraves Street subway runs under the centre of the station, exiting to Flinders Street at the north end, with stairs directly connecting to all platforms except for platforms 12 and 13. The Elizabeth Street subway is at the west end, and has direct access via ramps to all platforms except for platforms 1, 12, 13 and 14.
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