Magnificent milestone for Flinders Street Station
Magnificent milestone for Flinders Street Station
Flinders Street Station celebrates a major year milestone on September 12 – Australia’s oldest rail station has kept Melbourne moving for 170 years.
Minister for Transport Infrastructure Danny Pearson was on the concourse to celebrate the occasion.
“Everyone in Melbourne has a special memory of the station, be it meeting friends or family under the clocks or strolling through the station on the way to the footy at the ‘G’,” he said.
Metro CEO Raymond O’Flaherty reflected on the huge achievement of keeping Melbourne moving via the network’s busiest station.
“Metro Trains Melbourne is privileged to be the caretaker of this historic site, which is
Australia’s first and busiest metropolitan rail station.”
“As thousands of passengers pass through today, we hope they can take a moment to reflect on Flinders Street Station’s 170-year-history.
In 1854, the only buildings at the station site were weatherboard sheds at a single platform and was known as ‘Melbourne Terminus’. By 1910, a new station building was opened, originally called “Green Light” in its design.
Part of that original station still exists, the roof that was built over platforms 8 and 9, was moved to Hawthorn station in 1901, and is still there today.
Meeting ‘under the clocks’ has become a familiar phrase for Melbournians. While the clocks are now automated, it was originally one person’s job to manually change the departure clocks up to 900 times in an eight-hour shift.
This city treasure sits on the banks of the Yarra River, which was a significant meeting place for the Kulin Nation.
The river was known as Birrarung, which comes from the language of the Wurundjeri people and means river of mists.
More than 2,200 train services run on the Metro network on weekdays, with most services starting and ending at this iconic station. For many Metro Trains drivers, shifts begin and end at Flinders Street.
Flinders Street Station serves every part of the metropolitan network, as well as some regional services too. It’s the base for many of Metro’s 7100 employees, with a dedicated control room to support station operations, and driver depot facilities.
Over 19 million passengers touched-on at Flinders Street Station in between June 2023-24, making it the busiest station on the metropolitan network.
Please note: the 170-year milestone relates to the station site, not the current station building.
