Williamstown railway station is the terminus of the electrified suburban Williamstown line in

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Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It serves the western

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 metro ...

suburb of Williamstown, and it opened on 1 February 1859.Williamstown
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History

Work on the line started under the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company, but were taken over by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

in 1856, after work faltered. Builders Kerr, Hodgson & Billings commenced work on the timber station building in 1858, with the station opening to traffic on 17 January 1859. Arched bluestone road bridges were built over the cutting at Thompson and Cole Streets. Until 1987, the line continued around the bend to the now closed and demolished Williamstown Pier station. The building 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. ...

, and is the second oldest railway station in Victoria, after St Kilda. It is also the oldest timber railway station building to survive in the state, and one of the earliest surviving timber public buildings in Victoria. The central section of the station building remains today, but was originally flanked by two pavilions: one for the stationmasters residence, and on the other refreshment rooms. A now removed timber and iron veranda lined the street side of the station, while on the rail side, the original platform canopy extended along the platform much further. The Ann Street footbridge was installed c1883, and on electrification in 1916, the Thompson Street

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpass'' together for ...

arch was removed and replaced with girder spans, to provide increased clearance.

Railway sidings A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighte ...

, a

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and

weighbridge A truck scale (US), weighbridge (non-US) or railroad scale is a large set of scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire rail or road vehicles and their contents. By weighing the vehicle both e ...

were once located opposite the station, but have been since removed, with a portion of the

goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

out of use by 1965. The majority of the sidings were removed by June 1988. By October of that year, all rails,

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and

signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

between Williamstown and Williamstown Pier were removed, along with a further two electrified sidings, next to the platform track. The track now currently ends just under the Ann Street footbridge, at the Down end of the station. On 18 June 1996, Williamstown was upgraded to a

Premium Station The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which s ...

. In 2013/2014, it was the 13th least used station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 164,000 passenger movements. At the Up end of the station platform, the

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

converges into

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Platforms and services

Williamstown has one platform. It is serviced by

Metro Trains Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (6 ...

' Williamstown line services. Platform 1: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street and Frankston

Transport links

Transit Systems Victoria Transit Systems Victoria, formerly Sita Buslines, is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems and operates 18 List of Melbourne bus routes, bus routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria. H ...

operates one route via Williamstown 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 ...

: * : Williamstown – Sunshine station

Gallery

File:Platform of Willamstown Railway Station.jpg, Southbound view in April 2011

References

External links

*
Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Williamstown=y, state=collapsed Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne Premium Melbourne railway stations Railway stations in Melbourne Railway stations in Australia opened in 1859 Listed railway stations in Australia Railway stations in the City of Hobsons Bay Williamstown, Victoria