Heyington railway station

Heyington
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view in January 2021
General information
Location	Heyington Place, Toorak, Victoria 3142 City of Stonnington Australia
Coordinates	37°50′05″S145°01′22″E / 37.83472°S 145.02266°E / -37.83472; 145.02266
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Glen Waverley
Distance	7.12 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2 side
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Accessible	No—stairs required
Other information
Status	Operational, unstaffed
Station code	HEY
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	24 March 1890;133 years ago (1890-03-24)
Rebuilt	1975
Electrified	December 1922 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2017–2018	225,915 [1]

Preceding station	Metro Trains			Following station
Burnley towards Flinders Street		Glen Waverley line		Kooyong towards Glen Waverley

Track layout
Legend to Burnley Madden Grove Burnley Stabling Sidings CityLink Yarra River 1 2 to Kooyong

Heyington railway station is a commuter railway station in Toorak, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The station opened on 24 March 1890 as part of the branch line from Burnley to Waverley Road station. ^[3] The station consists of two side platforms accessed by a pedestrian bridge. There is one principal station building located on Platform 1. This buildings is single-storey and act as toilet, automated ticketing, and PSO facilities. ^[4] These buildings were provided in 1975 as part of the station rebuild. ^[5] The station is the only station in Melbourne to feature stair only access, subsequently making the station fully inaccessible. ^[6]

Heyington railway station is served by the Glen Waverley line, part of the Melbourne railway network. ^[7] The station doesn't have any transport connections unlike the majority of Melbourne train stations. The journey to Southern Cross railway station is approximately 7.12 kilometres (4.42 mi) and takes 25 minutes. ^[8]

Description

The footbridge with stair only access

Heyington railway station located in the suburb of Toorak, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. North of the station is the Yarra River and east of the station is St Kevin's College. ^[9] The station is owned by VicTrack, a state government agency, and the station is operated by Metro Trains. The station is 7.12 kilometres (4.42 mi), or a 15-minute train journey, from Southern Cross station. ^[8] The adjacent stations are Burnley station up towards Melbourne, and Kooyong station down towards Glen Waverley. ^[7]

The station consists of two side platforms two platform edges. Standard in Melbourne, the platform has an asphalt surface with concrete on the edges. The platforms are approximately 160 metres (524 ft 11 in) long, enough for a Metro Trains 7-car HCMT. ^[10] The station features one main station building, located on platform 1. This building acts as toilet, automated ticketing, and PSO facilities. ^[4] The station building is made from wood and ribbed metal roofing. ^[5]

The station building, concourse, and platform are largely the same as when the station was rebuilt in 1975. There is no bike or car parking are available at the station. ^[4] The station is the only one in Melbourne accessed solely by stairs, with both platforms requiring stair access from the pedestrian footbridge. ^[6]

History

Heyington railway station was opened on 24 March 1890 with the line through the station originally built to link Burnley to the Outer Circle line at Waverley Road, before continuing onto Oakleigh. The station was named after nearby Heyington Place, which provides access to the station. The line underwent numerous extensions over its life, with extensions to East Malvern in 1929 and to Glen Waverley in 1930. In 1926, duplication of the line between Heyington and Burnley stations occurred, with duplication between Heyington and Kooyong stations occurring in 1955. ^[3] Duplication of the line to Darling occurred in 1956, with the line fully duplicated to Glen Waverley by 1964. In 1969, the current overpass, located just beyond the up end of the station, was provided. ^[3]

In 1975, the current station building on Platform 1 was provided, with parcel facilities also being abolished around this time. ^{[5] [11]} On 23 June 1979, the new station building was partially damaged by fire. ^[12] Minor upgrades have occurred at the station since 1975, with a new roof installed on the Platform 1 station struture in 2022 and other technological, safety, and signage upgrades. ^[13]

February 2014 fatality

The station platforms in the setup that they were in at the time of the accident, 2007

On 22 February 2014, an 18 year old male was fatally injured when he fell between a moving train and the platform. ^[14] He was running alongside the moving train when he fell attempting to board it, while passengers inside the train were forcibly holding the carriage doors open. ^[14] An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report found that due to the pressure applied by passengers, the traction interlock system (as designed) automatically deactivated after a period of time. ^{[15] [10]} This allowed traction to be applied and the train to depart with the carriage doors open. Large platform gaps as a result of platform curvature also contributed to the accident. ^[10] The report found a total of four main issues, those being the inadequacy of the doors open warning device, the standards for train and platform clearances, the ability for the train to move with the carriage doors open, and the platform clearances. ^{[10] [16]} In a bid to prevent further fatalities from arising, Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) has realigned the track at Heyington station and installed rubber "bridges" along the entire edge of the platform face. ^{[15] [16]} Furthermore, a barrier has also been installed at the platform entrance to deter passengers from running for the train. ^[15]

On the wider network, MTM has also completed a survey of all stations with curved track and platforms that are at a higher risk of an issue occurring. ^{[10] [16]} In the short term, these platforms have had ‘Mind the Gap’ signs painted on them with the addition of announcement to alert passengers of the presence of a gap. ^[10] In the long term, plans and strategies have been adopted to remove these safety issues permanently from the network. ^{[10] [16]}

Platforms and services

Heyington has two side platforms with two faces. The station is currently served by the Glen Waverley line—a service on the metropolitan rail network. ^[17] The Glen Waverley line runs from Glen Waverley station south east of Melbourne, joining the Belgrave, Lilydale, and Alamein lines at Burnley station before travelling through the city loop. ^[7]

Platform 1:

•   Glen Waverley line   all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

•   Glen Waverley line   all stations services to Glen Waverley

Transport links

Rare amongst Melbourne train stations, Heyington station has no other transport connections. There are some transport connections on Toorak Road, however, these are over 200 metres (656 ft 2 in) away from the station. ^[18] Heyington station does however have train replacement bus stops located adjacent to the station.

References

1. Railway station and tram stop patronage in Victoria for 2008–2021 Philip Mallis
2. Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Data Vic
3. Heyington Vicsig
4. "Heyington". www.metrotrains.com.au. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
5. "Glen Waverley". Victorian Railways. VicRail. July 1975. p. 103.
6. "Access Guide". www.metrotrains.com.au. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
7. "Glen Waverley Line". Public Transport Victoria.
8. Ltd, Rome2rio Pty. "Rome2rio". Rome2rio. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
9. "Heyington". St Kevin's College. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
10. "Fatality at Heyington Railway Station, Toorak, Vic., on 22 February 2014". Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 27 April 2016.
11. "Traffic". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. March 1975. p. 68.
12. "Railway fires arson theory". The Age . 25 June 1979. p. 5.
13. "Heyington station glow up". Facebook. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
14. Cooper, Adam (29 January 2016). "Metro train driver Russell Dickson has no criminal case to answer over passenger's death". The Age. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
15. Carey, Adam (29 April 2016). "Watchdog tells Metro Trains to fix serious safety flaws in wake of teen's death". The Age. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
16. "Questions over investigation into teen's station death". ABC News. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
17. Public Transport Victoria. "Heyington Station". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
18. Victoria, Public Transport. "Irving Rd/Toorak Rd #136". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 9 January 2023.

External links

• Public Transport Victoria
• Media related to Heyington railway station, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons