Westall station is a railway station operated by Metro Trains Melbourne on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines, which are part of the Melbourne rail network. It serves the south-eastern suburb of Clayton South, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Westall station originally comprised two workers-only platforms for staff at the adjacent Martin & King railway coach-building factory. On 1 June 1959, it became available to the general public, and all services began stopping there. Dornan (1979) says the station opened 16 October 1954. The current station was provided in 2010.

The station, like the locality itself, gets its name from an early market garden proprietor who lived in the area.

History

Station facilities

On 19 July 1975, the timber station building on Platform 1 was damaged by fire.

By mid-1985 a pedestrian crossing, with small scale boom barriers, had been provided at the Down end of the platforms across the trailing crossover.

On 26 July 2006, a fire in the waiting room on Platform 1 caused major damage to half the station building, the ticket machines, seats and a section of the platform. The city-bound platform was closed off and passenger services to Flinders Street operated express from Springvale to Clayton, bypassing Westall, until temporary fencing was placed around the building. The damaged section was subsequently demolished and rebuilt.

In May 2008, the Victorian State Government announced that the Westall station precinct would receive a $151 million upgrade, which included a rebuilt station, a new third platform, a third 2.6-kilometre track between Centre Road and Springvale Road and additional storage space at the Westall stabling yard. Work commenced in January 2010, with the majority of it completed by October of that year.

The first sidings were provided in 1950. The station at the site was provided in 1951 for factory workers, and in 1959 to the general public. At that time a caretaker was provided. with three extra signals in the Up direction and the section Springvale to Clayton divided at Westall, mirroring the Down direction. In 1961 the Martin and King siding was renamed Volkswagen (Australia) Pty Ltd Siding. A through goods siding was provided linking Westall to Springvale along the north side of the alignment in 1966, which could be used as a refuge for empty briquette trains returning to the Latrobe Valley and Yallourn. At this time a public siding was also provided. Shortly thereafter the arrival-side Home signals were moved further out. By 1967 additional sidings were provided for the State Electricity Commission.

Resignalling work in the early 1970s included plans for the signal box to be abolished and the station worked from a control panel at Springvale. In mid-1971 the line from Clayton was converted from Double Line Block with Winter's Instruments to three-position automatic signals, and the down side through to Springvale followed in February the next year.

Further sidings were added in late 1974 for Kimberly-Clark, APM Investments in 1975, and Apex Quarries Pty Ltd. in 1976. A Stationmaster was provided to manage the goods sidings in April 1978. The Volkswagen sidings behind the Down platform were abolished in November 1984, and in March 1985 the level crossing was moved 107 metres in the down direction with minor signalling changes to accommodate the alteration. In 1992 Boxcar Ltd moved operations from the south to north side of the line, taking over the former Bowater Scott sidings and the original site being closed. The buildings were approximately 2,850 m<sup>2</sup> in size, and permitted bogie repair and replacement, under-carriage and overhead work. The work cost $15 million, but that included the cost of another new maintenance facility at Bayswater.

In 2000, the Westall Road level crossing was grade separated, and replaced with a road overpass. By 4 February 2001, the boom barriers at the former level crossing had been decommissioned.

Platforms and services

The station is served by Pakenham and Cranbourne line trains. It has one side platform (Platform 1) and one island platform with two faces (Platforms 2 and 3), linked by a footbridge. Access to the platforms is via stairs and lifts.

The side platform features a customer service window, an enclosed waiting room and toilets, while the island platform features an enclosed waiting room. A number of services terminate at Westall and return to the city.

{| class="wikitable defaultcenter col1left"

! colspan="6" style="background:#;background-image: linear-gradient(to right, #); " |<span style="color:white;">Westall platform arrangement</span>

|-

!Platform

!Line

!Destination

!Via

!Service Type

!Notes

|-

|1

||<br>

| rowspan="2" |Sunbury, Watergardens, West Footscray

| rowspan="2" |Town Hall

| rowspan="2" |Limited express

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |2

| rowspan="2" |<br>

|Services to Town Hall only use this platform during weekday peaks.

|-

| rowspan="2" |East Pakenham, Cranbourne, Dandenong

| rowspan="2" |

| rowspan="2" |All stations

|Typical platform for services to East Pakenham and Cranbourne.

|-

|3

|<br>

|Platform only used during weekday peaks.

|}

Ventura Bus Lines operates two bus routes via Westall station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

  • : to Oakleigh station
  • : Moorabbin station – Parkmore Shopping Centre

<gallery>

File:WestallPlatform2.jpg|North-west bound view from Platform 2, <br/>June 2013

</gallery>

References

  • Melway map at street-directory.com.au
  • Westall Train Station Video