Flagstaff railway station
- Hurstbridge Mernda
- Pakenham Cranbourne
- Lilydale Belgrave Alamein[a]
- Glen Waverley
- Craigieburn Upfield Sunbury
(1500 V DC overhead)
Preceding station | Metro Trains | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Southern Cross One-way operation | Mernda line | Melbourne Central towards Mernda | ||
Hurstbridge line | Melbourne Central towards Hurstbridge | |||
Southern Cross towards Flinders Street | Pakenham line | Melbourne Central One-way operation | ||
Cranbourne line | ||||
Direction of travel on metropolitan lines below between stations on the City Loop changes to either Southern Cross or Melbourne Central depending on the line and time of day. | ||||
Southern Cross towards Flinders Street | Lilydale line | Melbourne Central | ||
Belgrave line | ||||
Alamein line Select weekday peak services only | Melbourne Central towards Alamein | |||
Glen Waverley line | Melbourne Central towards Glen Waverley | |||
North Melbourne towards Upfield | Upfield line | Melbourne Central towards Flinders Street | ||
North Melbourne towards Craigieburn | Craigieburn line | |||
North Melbourne towards Sunbury | Sunbury line | |||
Future services (2025) | ||||
Southern Cross towards Flinders Street | Frankston line | Melbourne Central towards Frankston |
Track layout | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Flagstaff railway station is an underground station on the metro network in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of three stations on the underground City Loop, which runs through the Melbourne CBD. The station takes its name from the nearby Flagstaff Hill, a significant site in Melbourne's early history, and services Melbourne's legal district. It runs under La Trobe and William streets, near the north western corner of the CBD.
History
The station was constructed by mining methods, and has four levels to a maximum depth of 32 metres. The site was a geological "sandwich" of basalt in the arch area, Silurian mudstone bedrock in the lower half, and silt in the middle, which precluded the construction of lower and upper platforms as separately driven tunnels.[4]
Instead, the station platforms consist of two chambers linked by cross tunnels, each having two platforms on top of each other. The side of each chamber was made up of two drift tunnels, one at the top and one at the bottom. These were then linked together by 228 vertically raise bored shafts, 1 metre in diameter and 3 metres apart. The shafts and drifts were then filled with concrete, and formed the side skeleton of the station chambers. The arch of each chamber was then constructed underground across the top of the two side walls, the material below the arch excavated down to the bottom of the side walls, and temporary cross struts added between the raise bored columns until the permanent elements were added. This innovative method resulted in a $1 million saving in construction costs.[5]
Flagstaff was the last station on the loop to open. Although trains had run through the station site since 24 January 1981 when the City Loop began operating, Flagstaff only opened to passengers on 27 May 1985.[6][7] Initially, the City Loop did not operate at all on Sundays. That was changed with the introduction of Sunday trading, but at the same time that the other two underground loop stations opened on Sundays, Flagstaff station had its Saturday services cancelled.[8]
In May 2017, CDC Melbourne operates one route 605 to Gardenvale from Flagstaff Station.
In 2017/18, it was the sixth busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 4.75 million passenger movements.[3] Flagstaff station commenced opening on weekends and public holidays from 1 January 2016.[9][10] It was previously the only station in Melbourne to be closed on weekends and public holidays. This was due to its proximity to business-related buildings such as the Commonwealth Law Complex, banks and major office buildings, which generally close on weekends and public holidays.
Facilities
The station is located under the intersection of La Trobe and William streets and has two entrances – via lift or escalator south of La Trobe Street, and by stairs on the north. Flagstaff has three underground levels. The concourse level has a ticket office, ticket operated gates, toilets, a news stand and a hot snack shop. Flagstaff's four platforms are on the two levels below, with each level having an island platform. The levels are linked by elevators, 14 escalators and stairs.[5] The four platforms serve a separate group of rail lines that leave the loop and radiate out into the city's suburbs.
Weekend opening campaign
In October 2012, it was revealed that traders and residents in the north-west area of the Melbourne CBD had begun a campaign to have Flagstaff station opened on weekends, arguing that its closure had a deadening effect on the life of the area. A petition calling for the station's weekend opening, only collected about 150 signatures in the first week.[8]
With a number of residential developments having been built, the station was scheduled to open on weekends from June 2015, with both political parties having committed to this in the 2014 State Government Election.[11] This was however deferred until January 2016.[9][10]
Station layout
G | Street level | Entrances/Exits |
C | Concourse | Customer service, toilets |
P | Plant Room | Staff only |
L1 Platforms | Platform 1 |
|
Island platform, doors will open on the left | ||
Platform 2 |
| |
L2 Platforms | Platform 3 |
|
Island platform, doors will open on the left or right | ||
Platform 4 |
|
Transport links
Route Number | From | To | Stop location |
---|---|---|---|
St Vincent's Plaza | Docklands Stadium | La Trobe Street | |
The District Docklands | The District Docklands | La Trobe Street | |
West Coburg | Toorak | William Street |
Gallery
- Flagstaff station with an X'Trapolis train departing, March 2006
- Station concourse, Myki barriers and entrance, August 2017
- Escalators to Platforms 3 and 4,
August 2017 - Flagstaff station Platform 4, prior to the replacement of ceiling panels in 2023, August 2017
Notes
- ^ Weekday pre-peak and post-peak only
References
- ^ History of Melbourne's Metropolitan Rail System and the adoption of the Underground Rail Loop concept Metropolitan Transit Authority
- ^ a b c d e f "Train Station Patronage FY2008-2014". Public Transport Victoria. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original (XLS) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016. (access from [1] Archived 3 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ a b c d e "Station Patronage Data 2013–2018". Philip Mallis. Transport for Victoria. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ^ "The Melbourne Underground Railway Loop". Technology in Australia 1788–1988. www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au. p. 383. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
- ^ a b History of Melbourne's Underground Rail System Metropolitan Transit Authority
- ^ Stations opened, stations closed Electric Traction August 1985 page 123
- ^ Department of Infrastructure. "Public transport – City Loop history". www.doi.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
- ^ a b Carey, Adam (23 October 2012). "Push for Flagstaff to open 7 days". The Age. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ^ a b Gough, Deborah; Dmytryshchak, Goya (28 November 2015). "Countdown to Flagstaff Station opening on weekends". The Age. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Flagstaff Station to open on weekends in under a month". Public Transport Development Authority (Public Transport Victoria). 8 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ^ "Flagstaff station to open on weekends" Railway Digest November 2014 page 24
- ^ "Mernda Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Hurstbridge Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Pakenham Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Cranbourne Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Craigieburn Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Upfield Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Sunbury line". Public Transport Victoria.
- ^ "Lilydale Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Belgrave Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Glen Waverley Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "Alamein Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
External links
Media related to Flagstaff railway station at Wikimedia Commons
- Melway map at street-directory.com.au
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V/Line services and stations |
- Stations and services in italics are planned or under construction
- Stations in (parentheses) are uncommon stops for the listed service