Geelong railway station is a

regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

way station on the Warrnambool line, part of the Victorian railway network. It serves the city of the same name, in Victoria, Australia. The original station opened on 1 November 1856.Geelong
Vicsig Together with

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, it is one of only two stations in Victoria to retain its 19th-century

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

. The station has been listed by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

as being of state-level significance, and is 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. ...

History

The first Geelong station was built as the terminus of the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company line. It was a dead-end terminus, located on the site of the present law courts complex. In November 1876, the railway was extended south to

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a town in the county of East Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The current town, which was founded in 1288, replaced an earli ...

, necessitating the relocation of the station to the west and, between 1877 and 1881, the current station building was constructed. In 1975, the station received a minor upgrade to the refreshment rooms, and was also provided with a waiting room around that time. In 1988, the station received a more significant upgrade, which included new passenger waiting areas and booking offices. Until the 1990s, there was a

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 ...

, including a large

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before, after, and during loading to and unloading from a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, althou ...

, located on the eastern side of the station. That area is now the site of Geelong's law courts and

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

. A locomotive depot remains to the north, and carriage stabling sidings are to the west. In March 2015, a further upgrade to the station was completed, which included the installation of a new DDA-compliant pedestrian overpass to connect all platforms, which included lifts, avoiding the need to use the original heritage-protected pedestrian bridge, which only has stairs.

Platforms and services

Geelong has one

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

with two faces, and one

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, ...

, and is served by

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...

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

and

Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

line trains. Prior to the opening of the

Regional Rail Link Regional Rail Link (RRL) is the name of a project to build a length of railway through the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The name is also colloquially used to refer to the rail alignment constructed as part of the project. The pro ...

in 2015, almost all trains used Platform 1, and Platforms 2 and 3 were only used if Platform 1 was occupied: Platform 1: up services to

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

and down services to South Geelong,

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

, and Waurn Ponds. Platform 2: Up and down

services, terminating services, and other services if Platform 1 was occupied. Platform 3: Terminating services, special heritage services, and other services if Platform 1 was occupied. After the opening of the Regional Rail Link, three times as many services were run, requiring trains to cross at Geelong on a regular basis. The platforms have now been divided into up and down platforms: Platform 1: Down services to South Geelong, Marshall, Waurn Ponds, and Warrnambool Platform 2: Up services when Platform 3 is occupied, special heritage services Platform 3: Up services to Southern Cross, terminating services It is common for a trains to be in all three platforms e.g.: Platform 1: Down Waurn Ponds service Platform 2: Up service, stopping all stations Platform 3: Up express service from Warrnambool Platform 1: * services to South Geelong,

, Waurn Ponds and

* services to

and Southern Cross Platform 2: * services to Southern Cross * services to Southern Cross Platform 3: * services to Southern Cross;

peak hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

terminating services * services to Southern Cross

Transport links

CDC Geelong operates seven bus routes via Geelong station, under contract to

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

: *: North Shore station –

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

Waurn Ponds Campus *:

– Bannockburn *: to Corio Shopping Centre *: to North Shore station *: to North Geelong station *: to Bell Post Hill *: to Deakin University Waurn Ponds Campus McHarry's Buslines operates twelve routes via Geelong station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria: *: to Whittington *: to St Albans Park *: to Leopold *: to Deakin University Waurn Ponds Campus *: to Deakin University Waurn Ponds Campus *: to Deakin University Waurn Ponds Campus *: to Jan Juc *: to Jan Juc *: to Ocean Grove *: to Queenscliff *: to St Leonards *: to Drysdale

operates road coach services from Geelong station to Apollo Bay,

, Colac and

.Warrnambool - Melbourne via Apollo Bay
Public Transport Victoria

Gallery

File:Geelong-morning.jpg, Southbound view from Platform 1 with all three platforms occupied, October 2006 File:Geelong Station April 2022 1.jpg, Side entrance to platform 3, April 2022

References

External links

*

{{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, South Western=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in Australia opened in 1881 Listed railway stations in Australia Railway stations in Geelong Regional railway stations in Victoria (state) Heritage-listed buildings in Greater Geelong