Wodonga railway station
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Wodonga railway station is located on the
North East line The North East MRT line (NEL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. Operated by SBS Transit, it is the shortest MRT line at . The line runs from HarbourFront station in southern Singapore to Punggol station in the no ...
in Victoria,
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 Wodonga, and it opened on 25 June 2011.Wodonga
Vicsig
Opening as part of the Wodonga Rail Bypass project, it replaced the original station that opened on 21 November 1873 and closed on 9 November 2008. Disused station
Barnawartha Barnawartha is a small town located on the Hume Highway in regional north-east Victoria, Australia, approximately from Melbourne on the banks of Indigo Creek which runs into the Murray River to the north. Barnawartha commercial centre is locat ...
is located between Wodonga and Chiltern.


History


As a terminus

Wodonga station was the original terminus of the Victorian Railways' North East line, which was built during the 1870s, with Wodonga opening on 21 November 1873. The connection through to the
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
system across the Murray River to Albury was not completed until 14 June 1883, partly because the New South Wales Government Railways standard gauge system had not yet extended as far south as Albury. Intercolonial rivalries were settled by the building of lines and bridges of both gauges across the border river flats, with both Albury and Wodonga being transfer stations. Albury later became the passenger interchange station and the major freight transshipment point.


Standard gauge

In April 1962, the standard gauge line was extended south from Wodonga to Melbourne, and from that time onwards, most interstate haulage was on the standard gauge. Some broad gauge passenger trains still continued to operate to Albury, to provide a local service to north-eastern Victorian towns, but the long distance interstate freight and passenger trains operated via this new continuous standard gauge link between Melbourne and
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. Livestock, mostly beef cattle, formed a large part of the freight carried to Melbourne from Wodonga, where large saleyards were established near the station. Meatworks were also one of Wodonga's main industries. After 1980, the saleyard was moved to
Bandiana Bandiana is a Suburb of the City of Wodonga local government area in northeast Victoria, Australia. History Bandiana takes its name from the early name for the area, probably from a First Nations toponym. The hill now known as Bears Hill appea ...
, east of Wodonga.
Dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...
rail access was constructed at this selling centre, which was adjacent to the Victorian Cudgewa branch line. Services on this branch were discontinued beyond
Bandiana Bandiana is a Suburb of the City of Wodonga local government area in northeast Victoria, Australia. History Bandiana takes its name from the early name for the area, probably from a First Nations toponym. The hill now known as Bears Hill appea ...
, and the Victorian rail system soon ceased livestock traffic. Cattle continued to be occasionally railed from northern NSW to Bandiana Saleyards until 1987, when this rail traffic also ceased. In later years, the sidings at Bandiana were used as a rail container terminal by standard gauge trains only, until closure of the line on 1 September 2009. Until November 2008, Pacific National operated broad gauge freight services from the Wodonga Coal Sidings to
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, ...
, carrying logs for woodchipping.


Wodonga Rail Bypass

The Wodonga Rail Bypass project moved Wodonga station from the original central location to a position on a new line on the northern edge of the town, along with five kilometres of new track. The release of railway land allowed the redevelopment of Wodonga's commercial area, and eliminated ten level crossings. First conceived in 2000, design work commenced in 2006. In May 2008, it was announced that the project would commence, as part of an upgrade of the North-East line. The last passenger train passed through Wodonga on 8 November 2008, with road coaches operating between
Seymour Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township *Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria *Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria *Seymour, Tasmania, a locality ...
and Albury. The first train passed through the new station site on 15 March 2010: a freight service delivering concrete sleepers. On 23 July 2010, the new rail bypass was opened, and the original line through Wodonga closed. On 25 June 2011, the new station opened. The original station was later redeveloped as a restaurant.Rail land's toxic dirt removed
''Border Mail'' 8 May 2013


Platforms and services

Wodonga has one platform. It is serviced by V/Line Albury line services.Albury - Melbourne
Public Transport Victoria
Platform 1: * services to Albury and Southern Cross


Transport links

V/Line operates road coaches from Wodonga station to
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, Albury,
Seymour Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township *Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria *Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria *Seymour, Tasmania, a locality ...
,
Kerang Kerang is a rural town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located north-west of Melbourne on the Murray V ...
, Wangaratta and Adelaide.


References


External links


Rail Geelong gallery
{{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, North Eastern=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in Australia opened in 1873 Regional railway stations in Victoria (Australia) Wodonga