Australia’s oldest train station is celebrating a major milestone, having kept Melburnians moving for almost two centuries.
Flinders Street Station turns 170 years old yesterday and remains the busiest station on the metropolitan network – serving more than 19 million passengers over the past year.
Previously known as ‘Melbourne Terminus’, Flinders Street Station began operations in 1854 through weatherboard sheds at a single platform on the banks of the Yarra River.
“Everyone in Melbourne has a special memory of the station, be it meeting friends or family under the clocks or strolling through the station on the way to the footy at the ‘G’,” said Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson.
Part of the original station design lives on with a section of roof moved to Hawthorn Station in 1901, where it remains to this day.
By 1910, a new station building was opened, originally called ’Green Light’ – and it was one person’s job to manually change the departure clocks up to 900 times in an eight-hour shift.
In the modern era, locals and visitors alike continue meeting ‘under the clocks’ and more than 2,200 train services run on the metropolitan network on weekdays – with most services starting and ending at this iconic station.
“Flinders Street Station is the beating heart of Melbourne’s rail network – it’s an icon of the city,” said Minister for Public and Active Transport, Gabrielle Williams.
From next year, Flinders Street is set to be connected to even more train services when an underground passenger connection opens between the station and the brand-new Town Hall Station, one of five new Metro Tunnel stations.
Flinders Street Station serves every part of the metropolitan network, in addition to many regional services, and remains the base for many of Metro’s 7,100 employees.
“Metro Trains Melbourne is privileged to be the caretaker of this historic site, which is Australia’s first and busiest metropolitan rail station,” said Metro Trains CEO, Raymond O’Flaherty.
