St Albans station is a railway station operated by Metro Trains Melbourne on the Sunbury line, which is part of the Melbourne network. It serves the western suburb of St Albans, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. St Albans station is a below ground premium station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 1 February 1887, with the current station provided in November 2016.

History

St Albans station opened on 1 February 1887.

Originally, only three trains each way passed through St Albans on weekdays, and passengers had to inform the train guard at the prior stop if they wanted to alight there. In 1888, a local service was provided, although it could not start operating to St Albans until 19 November of that year, when a single crossover was added, with tail-ropes probably used to shunt carriages with a locomotive on the adjacent track.

In 1898, that situation was resolved, when a second crossover was added and, by 1899, three non-interlocked signals had been provided in each direction, with the first proper signal box brought into use on 17 June 1901.

The original station was located at the down end of the former Main Road level crossing, with all terminating electric trains using Platform 2.

A signal box with a mechanical lever frame, now abolished, was located on the former island platform, to control access to the former back platform and sidings.

On 26 July 1996, St Albans was upgraded to a premium station.

In January 2002, as part of the extension of the electrified network to Sydenham, the platform that had been located at the down end of the level crossing was replaced by a new platform at the up end of the crossing.

In November 2012, after electrification of the line was extended to Sunbury, V/Line Bendigo services ceased stopping at St Albans, and Metro Trains' terminating services also ceased outside of peak hours, with Platform 3 no longer regularly used. The stabling yard was still used for train storage, until work on the grade separation project began in 2015. After a short while of down trains running non stop through the station, a new temporary platform 2 was subsequently constructed and was used until to closure of the ground level station.

The old station as well as the line beyond Sunshine were closed on 4 October with construction to connect the tracks in the new cuttings to the existing mainline. These works were complete on 1 November 2016 with the rebuilt station opening to the public. The overall project completed by mid-2017. Roughly a third of the station was directly below Main Road, with the remainder also lowered.

Platforms and services

St Albans has two side platforms, located below ground level. It is served by Sunbury line trains.

{| class="wikitable defaultcenter col1left"

! colspan="7" style="background:#;background-image: linear-gradient(to right, #); " |<span style="color:white;">St Albans platform arrangement</span>

|-

!Platform

!Line

!Destination

!Via

!Service Type

!Notes

!Source

|-

|1

|

|Westall, Dandenong, East Pakenham, Cranbourne

|Town Hall

|All stations and limited express services

|Services to Westall and Dandenong only operate during weekday peaks.

|

|-

|2

|

|Watergardens, Sunbury

|

|All stations

|

|

|}

CDC Melbourne operates seven bus routes to and from St Albans station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

  • : to Highpoint Shopping Centre
  • : to Caroline Springs Square Shopping Centre
  • : to Watergardens station
  • : to Watergardens station
  • : to Brimbank Central Shopping Centre
  • : to Brimbank Central Shopping Centre
  • : to Watergardens station

<gallery>

File:Disused Platform.jpg|Melbourne bound platform that was located north of the Main Road level crossing, September 2005. It was replaced by a new Platform 1 in January 2002. This platform has since been demolished as part of the grade separation works in 2016.

File:EntranceStAlbans.jpg|Former entrance to Platform 1 before the removal works in 2016.

File:St Albans Railway Station.jpg|St Albans Station looking north in November 2016, taken on the first opening day.

File:St AlbansSeptember2024.jpg|Northbound view from platform 2, September 2024

</gallery>

References

  • Melway map at street-directory.com.au