Flagstaff railway station

This article is about the Melbourne station. For the Arizona station, see Flagstaff station.

Flagstaff
PTV commuter rail station
Flagstaff station Platform 1, July 2023
General information
Location	La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 City of Melbourne Australia
Coordinates	37°48′43″S144°57′22″E / 37.81194°S 144.95611°E / -37.81194; 144.95611
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Hurstbridge Mernda Pakenham Cranbourne Lilydale Belgrave Alamein [lower-alpha 1] Glen Waverley Craigieburn Upfield Sunbury
Platforms	4 (2 island)
Tracks	4
Connections	Tram
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Depth	32 m [1]
Platform levels	2
Accessible	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, premium station
Station code	FGS
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	27 May 1985;38 years ago (1985-05-27)
Electrified	January 1981 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2008–2009	4.188 million [2]

Preceding station	Metro Trains			Following station
Southern Cross One-way operation		Mernda line		Melbourne Central towards Mernda
		Hurstbridge line		Melbourne Central towards Hurstbridge
Southern Cross towards Flinders Street		Pakenham line		Melbourne Central One-way operation
		Cranbourne line
Direction of travel on metropolitan lines below between stations on the City Loop changes to either Southern Cross or Melbourne Central depending on the line and time of day.
Southern Cross towards Flinders Street		Lilydale line		Melbourne Central towards Lilydale or Belgrave
		Belgrave line
		Alamein line Select weekday peak services only		Melbourne Central towards Alamein
		Glen Waverley line		Melbourne Central towards Glen Waverley
North Melbourne towards Upfield		Upfield line		Melbourne Central towards Flinders Street
North Melbourne towards Craigieburn		Craigieburn line
North Melbourne towards Sunbury		Sunbury line
Future services (2025)
Southern Cross towards Flinders Street		Frankston line		Melbourne Central towards Frankston

Track layout
Legend to Southern Cross to North Melbourne 1 3 L1 (upper) 2 4 L2 (lower) to Melbourne Central

Station concourse, August 2017

Escalator to Platforms 3 and 4, August 2017

Flagstaff station platform 4, August 2017, prior to the replacement of ceiling panels in 2023.

Flagstaff railway station is an underground station on the metro network in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of three stations on the underground City Loop, which runs through the Melbourne CBD. 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 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. ^[3] Flagstaff station commenced opening on weekends and public holidays from 1 January 2016. ^{[4] [5]} It was previously the only station in Melbourne to be closed on weekends and public holidays. This was due to its proximity to business-related buildings such as the Commonwealth Law Complex, banks and major office buildings, which generally close on weekends and public holidays.

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 in the arch area, Silurian mudstone bedrock in the lower half, and silt in the middle, which precluded the construction of lower and upper platforms as separately driven tunnels. ^[6]

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. ^[7]

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. ^{[8] [9]} 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. ^[10]

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 and William 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. The levels are linked by elevators, 14 escalators and stairs. ^[7] 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. ^[10]

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. ^[11] This was however deferred until January 2016. ^{[4] [5]}

Station layout

G	Street level	Entrances/Exits
C	Concourse	Customer service, toilets
P	Plant Room	Staff only
L1 Platforms	Platform 1	←   Mernda line   towards Mernda (Melbourne Central) [12] ←   Hurstbridge line   towards Hurstbridge (Melbourne Central) [13]
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Platform 2	→  Pakenham line   express towards Pakenham (Southern Cross) [14] → →  Cranbourne line   express towards Cranbourne (Southern Cross) [15] →
L2 Platforms	Platform 3	←   Craigieburn line   towards Craigieburn (Melbourne Central or North Melbourne) [16] → ←   Upfield line   towards Upfield (Melbourne Central or North Melbourne) [17] → ←   Sunbury line   towards Sunbury (Melbourne Central or North Melbourne) [18] →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left or right
	Platform 4	←   Lilydale line   towards Lilydale (Melbourne Central or Southern Cross) [19] → ←   Belgrave line   towards Belgrave (Melbourne Central or Southern Cross) [20] → ←   Glen Waverley line   towards Glen Waverley (Melbourne Central or Southern Cross) [21] → ←   Alamein line   peak services towards Alamein (Melbourne Central or Southern Cross) [22] →

Transport links

Route Number	From	To	Stop location
	St Vincent's Plaza	Docklands Stadium	La Trobe Street
	The District Docklands	The District Docklands	La Trobe Street
	West Coburg	Toorak	William Street

Notes

1. Weekday pre-peak and post-peak only

References

1. History of Melbourne's Metropolitan Rail System and the adoption of the Underground Rail Loop concept Metropolitan Transit Authority
2. "Train Station Patronage FY2008-2014". Public Transport Victoria. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original (XLS) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016. (access from Archived 3 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine )
3. "Station Patronage Data 2013–2018". Philip Mallis. Transport for Victoria. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
4. Gough, Deborah; Dmytryshchak, Goya (28 November 2015). "Countdown to Flagstaff Station opening on weekends". The Age . Retrieved 3 December 2015.
5. "Flagstaff Station to open on weekends in under a month". Public Transport Development Authority (Public Transport Victoria). 8 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
6. "The Melbourne Underground Railway Loop". Technology in Australia 1788–1988. www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au. p. 383. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
7. History of Melbourne's Underground Rail System Metropolitan Transit Authority
8. Stations opened, stations closed Electric Traction August 1985 page 123
9. Department of Infrastructure. "Public transport – City Loop history". www.doi.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
10. Carey, Adam (23 October 2012). "Push for Flagstaff to open 7 days". The Age. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
11. "Flagstaff station to open on weekends" Railway Digest November 2014 page 24
12. "Mernda Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
13. "Hurstbridge Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
14. "Pakenham Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
15. "Cranbourne Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
16. "Craigieburn Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
17. "Upfield Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
18. "Sunbury line". Public Transport Victoria.
19. "Lilydale Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
20. "Belgrave Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
21. "Glen Waverley Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
22. "Alamein Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 8 May 2023.

External links

Media related to Flagstaff railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au