Ballarat railway station is located on the Serviceton line in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It serves the city of

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, and it opened on 11 April 1862 as Ballarat West. It was renamed Ballarat in 1865.Ballarat
Vicsig Located about from the state capital,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, it is considered a major station on the Serviceton line. The extensive building complex is of major architectural and historical significance to Ballarat; most of its original 19th-century features are intact. Preserved historic features include

signal boxes On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetabl ...

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

s and the largest surviving

interlocking In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junction (rail), junctions or crossings. The signalling appliances and Track (rail transpor ...

mechanical swing gates in Victoria, at Lydiard Street.The level crossing gates were damaged in an accident in May 2020. It has a 19th-century arched roof spanning three tracks,It is one of only three stations in Victoria to have had such a roof; the others are

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

and St Kilda and the complex is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...

. Disused stations Ballarat East, Warrenheip,

Bungaree Bungaree, or Boongaree ( – 24 November 1830), was an Aboriginal Australian from the Guringai people of the Broken Bay north of Sydney, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader.Barani (2013)Significant Aborig ...

and

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

are located between Ballarat and Ballan.

History

As part of the original railway line to Melbourne via

, constructed to service the booming Ballarat goldfields, Ballarat West railway station – as it was then known – was built at a cost of almost £22,000 pounds. A

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

engine shed The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

was built to the south; a goods shed to the north was added in 1863. In 1877, the

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

and

waiting room A waiting room or waiting hall is a building, or more commonly a part of a building or a room, where people sit or stand until the event or appointment for which they are waiting begins. There are two types of waiting room. One has individuals ...

s on the south side were added. In 1885, hand-operated railway gates were added to the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

at Lydiard Street, together with the "B" signal box to operate it on the western side.

Extension

Following the opening of the direct line from Ballarat to Melbourne in December 1889, the increase in patronage led to plans to upgrade the station. A grand

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

, stationmaster's office and clocktower were designed in 1888 and added in 1891, although no clock was installed in the tower. With the amalgamation of the Ballarat East and West Town Councils in 1921 to form the

City of Ballaarat The City of Ballaarat was a local government area covering the inner suburbs of the regional city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1855 until 1994. History The spelling of the name was a sourc ...

, and the closure of Ballarat East station, the station gradually dropped the name West Ballarat.

Preservation

On 13 December 1981, fire badly damaged the interiors of the 1888 section, including the station-master's office, waiting room, booking office, dining room and clock tower. All of these areas were later repaired and retained. Many of the original features were restored, but some interiors, including the booking office, were subsequently modernised. In 1983, the State Transport Authority proposed to demolish the interlocking gates at Lydiard Street. The City of Ballaarat,

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and Historic Buildings Council responded with a successful campaign to save the gates. A clock was added to the tower in 1984. In 1990, conservationists succeeded in their lobbying to preserve the historic railway gates. An automated mechanical system was built to enable their continued use. Additional restoration was carried out in 2005, with the station roof replaced with quarried Welsh slate to match the original southern roof. The bus interchange near the station entrance was upgraded in 1994.

Second boom

Following the 2006

Regional Fast Rail project The Regional Fast Rail project (or RFR project) was a rail transport project undertaken by the State Government of Victoria, Australia, between 2000 and 2006 aimed at improving rail services on the Victorian regional railway network (operated by ...

, and the introduction of V/Line's VLocity trains, as well as the reintroduction of services to Ararat in 2004, passenger numbers at Ballarat station increased by as much as 40% a year. A call for a second station ensued, which became

Wendouree Wendouree () is a large suburb on the north western rural-urban fringe of the city of Ballarat, in Victoria, Australia. It is the second most populated suburb in the City of Ballarat with a total of 10,376 inhabitants at the . It is named af ...

, opening in June 2009, to alleviate congestion, mainly caused by

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

commuters from Ballarat's outer western suburbs. A further increase in trains followed, after the resumption of services to Maryborough in 2010.

Accidents and incidents

On 30 May 2020, a VLocity passenger train, operated by V/Line, failed to stop at Ballarat station, and crashed into the interlocking gates protecting the Lydiard Street North level crossing. Four men were on board the Ballarat-bound service and were injured in the collision, including the driver and conductor. The

Australian Transport Safety Bureau The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia's national transport safety investigator. The ATSB is the federal government body responsible for investigating transport-related accidents and incidents within Australia. It covers air ...

investigated the incident, and issued a preliminary reportATSB preliminary reports contain factual information established in the investigation's early evidence collection phase but no analysis or findings, which are detailed in the final report. in September 2020. It established that the train had travelled through the station at 23:35 at about , passed a departure signal at stop, and struck the gates at the level crossing, before coming to rest west of the station. On 16 November 2021, the level crossing reopened with temporary boom barriers installed, with the interlocking gates placed in storage in nearby

. The reopening is part of a $10.5 million program to replace the signalling system around the station.

Platforms and services

Ballarat has two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s. It is serviced by

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

, Ararat and Maryborough line services. Platform 1: * services to

and

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

* services to Ararat and Southern Cross * services to Maryborough Platform 2: * services to Wendouree * services to Ararat * services to Maryborough

Transport links

Bus services

CDC Ballarat CDC Ballarat, formerly known as Davis Bus Lines, is an Australian bus company operating in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It is a subsidiary of CDC Victoria, in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia, in turn a subsidiary of Singapore-bas ...

operates fourteen routes to and from Ballarat station, under contract to

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria, Australia, Victoria. It was the trading name of the Go Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authorit ...

: *: to Alfredton *: to Wendouree station *: to Wendouree station *: to Invermay Park *: to Black Hill *: to Brown Hill *: to Canadian *: to Buninyong *: to Federation University Ballarat Campus *: to Mount Pleasant *: to Sebastopol *: to Delacombe *: to Alfredton *: to Creswick

Road coaches

operates road coach services from Ballarat station to: *

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

via Maryborough and

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

* Halls Gap and the Grampians National Park via

Ararat Ararat or in Western Armenian Ararad may refer to: Personal names * Ararat ( hy, Արարատ), a common first name for Armenian males (pronounced Ararad in Western Armenian) * Ararat or Araratian, a common family name for Armenians (pronounced A ...

and Stawell *

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, Dimboola, Nhill and Adelaide *

* Hamilton and Mount Gambier * Ouyen, Donald and MilduraOuyen - Ballarat
Public Transport Victoria * Warrnambool

Trails

The station is the official starting point of two multi-use trails: *

Wallaby Track The major part of the Great Dividing Trail (but not all) is now re-badged as the Goldfields Track, a hiking and mountain-biking track through the historical Goldfields region of Victoria to the north-west and west of Melbourne. The trail passes a ...

, part of the

Great Dividing Trail The major part of the Great Dividing Trail (but not all) is now re-badged as the Goldfields Track, a hiking and mountain-biking track through the historical Goldfields region of Victoria to the north-west and west of Melbourne. The trail passes a ...

: goes to Daylesford and Buninyong * Ballarat-Skipton Rail Trail: goes to Skipton

Gallery

File:Ballarat railway station train hall.jpg, Eastbound view from Platform 1 in December 2007 File:Ballarat railway station clocktower.jpg, View of the station clocktower in December 2007 File:Ballarat Railway Station 2011 002.JPG, Station front and entrance to Platform 1 in December 2011 File:BallaratRailwayStationPlatformTwo.jpg, Westbound view of Platform 2 in May 2017 File:A2 986 Ballarat Railway Station.jpg, Preserved A2 class locomotive 986 sits at Platform 2, during the Ballarat Heritage Weekend, in May 2017

Notes

References

External links

Rail Geelong galleryMelway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Western=y, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Ballarat Railway stations in Australia opened in 1862 Regional railway stations in Victoria (Australia) Transport in Ballarat Victorian Free Classical architecture in Australia Victorian Heritage Register Grampians (region)