![Flagstaff Station Entrance 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Flagstaff_Station_Entrance_2017.jpg)
Flagstaff railway station is an underground station on the
metro network in
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 ...
, Australia. It is one of five stations (and one of three underground) on the
City Loop, which encircles the
Melbourne CBD
The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city la ...
. 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
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
Streets, near the north western corner of the CBD.
In 2017/18, it was the sixth busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 4.75 million passenger movements.
Flagstaff station commenced opening on weekends and public holidays from 1 January 2016
– it was previously the only station in Melbourne to be closed on weekends and public holidays due to its proximity to business-related buildings such as the Commonwealth Law Complex, banks and major office buildings.
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
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
in the arch area,
Silurian mudstone bedrock in the lower half, and
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...
in the middle, which precluded the construction of lower and upper platforms as separately driven tunnels.
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 (in 1975 dollars).
[History of Melbourne's Underground Rail System]
Metropolitan Transport Authority
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.
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.
In May 2017, CDC Melbourne operates one route 605 to Gardenvale from Flagstaff Station.
Facilities
The station is located under the intersection of
La Trobe Street
La Trobe Street (also Latrobe Street) is a major street and thoroughfare in the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and forms the northern boundary of Melbourne's central business district. The street wa ...
and
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
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
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
. The levels are linked by elevators, 14 escalators and stairs.
[ 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.[
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.]["Flagstaff station to open on weekends" '']Railway Digest
''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia.
Overview
The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published in ...
'' November 2014 page 24 This was however deferred until January 2016.
Transport links
Platforms & services
Platform 1 - Clifton Hill Group:
* all stations and limited stops services to Mernda
Mernda is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 km north-east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Whittlesea local government area. Mernda recorded a population of 23,369 at the 2021 census.
Hi ...
* all stations and limited stops services to Hurstbridge
Hurstbridge is a town in Victoria, Australia, 28 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Hurstbridge recorded a population of 3,554 at the 2021 census.
Hurstbri ...
Platform 2 - Caulfield Group:
* express services to Pakenham via Flinders Street
* express services to Cranbourne via Flinders Street
Platform 3 - Northern Group:
* all stations services to Craigieburn
* all stations services to Upfield
* all stations and limited stops services to Sunbury
Customers for Werribee
Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham Local government areas of Victoria, local government a ...
or Williamstown servies change at Flinders Street, 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 ...
or North Melbourne
North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...
Platform 4 - Burnley Group:
* all stations and limited stops services to Lilydale
* all stations and limited stops services to Belgrave Belgrave may refer to:
Places
*Belgrave, Cheshire, an English village
*Belgrave, Leicester an English district
*Belgrave, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia
** Belgrave railway line
**Belgrave railway station, Melbourne
**Belgrave (Puffing ...
* all stations and limited stops services to Glen Waverley
Glen Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Glen Waverley recorded a population of 42,642 at the 2021 census.
History ...
* weekday shoulder peak all stations and limited stops services to Alamein
References
External links
*
Melway map
at street-directory.com.au
{{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Alamein=y, Belgrave=y, Craigieburn=y, Cranbourne=y, Glen Waverley=y, Hurstbridge=y, Lilydale=y, Pakenham=y, Mernda=y, Sunbury=y, Upfield=y, state=collapsed
Premium Melbourne railway stations
Railway stations located underground in Melbourne
Railway stations in Australia opened in 1985
Buildings and structures in Melbourne City Centre
Railway stations in the City of Melbourne (LGA)
Tram stops in Melbourne