South Yarra railway station

South Yarra railway station is located in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, in Victoria, Australia, on the Pakenham, Cranbourne, Frankston and Sandringham lines. V/Line's Bairnsdale rail services (the Gippsland line) pass non-stop through the station.

South Yarra
Station front in May 2011
Location	Toorak Road, South Yarra Australia
Coordinates	37°50′20″S 144°59′32″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Pakenham Cranbourne Frankston Sandringham
Distance	5.41 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	6 (2 side, 2 island)
Tracks	6
Connections	Tram
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Status	Premium station
Station code	SYR
Fare zone	Myki zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	22 December 1860
Electrified	Yes
Previous names	Gardiner's Creek Road
Traffic
Passengers (2008-2009)	2.705 million[1]
Passengers (2009-2010)	2.518 million[1]  6.91%
Passengers (2010-2011)	2.638 million[1]  4.77%
Passengers (2011-2012)	2.399 million[1]  9.06%
Passengers (2012-2013)	Not measured[1]
Passengers (2013-2014)	3.939 million[1]  64.17%
Passengers (2014-2015)	Not measured[2]
Passengers (2015-2016)	4.20 million[2]  6.62%
Passengers (2016-2017)	4.52 million[2]  7.57%
Passengers (2017-2018)	4.59 million[2]  1.67%
Services
Preceding station   Metro Trains   Following station Richmond towards Flinders Street Pakenham line Hawksburn towards Pakenham Cranbourne line Hawksburn towards Cranbourne Frankston line Hawksburn towards Frankston Sandringham line Prahran towards Sandringham

The station is staffed from the first to the last service each day as a premium station. According to Public Transport Victoria data, it is the eighth-busiest station on the Melbourne metropolitan network, with 4.59 million boardings per year in 2017/18.[2]

South Yarra station is scheduled for a $12 million refurbishment in early 2020. The entrance to the station on Toorak Road is to be widened and the layout changed to make the station larger.[3][4]

History

The station was opened on 22 December 1860, by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company, as "Gardiner's Creek Road". Initially, it served the Brighton line, on what was called the "Prahran Branch". The station was renamed South Yarra on 1 January 1867.[5] The private railway company, by then the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company, was taken over by the Government of Victoria in 1878, its network becoming part of Victorian Railways.

John Cooper (1924) notes that when the South Yarra to Oakleigh line was first constructed, a set of points connected the line to the existing Brighton line. However, it was found that a high embankment obscured the vision of the drivers of approaching trains on both lines. To solve that problem, it was decided that the Oakleigh line should have its own tracks into Melbourne, and soon after, a second bridge, spanning the Yarra River, was built to facilitate that (p. 307). The opening of the South Yarra to Oakleigh line in 1879 made the proposed Outer Circle railway line largely redundant, but it was constructed anyway, a decade later.

Even after the laying of six tracks from Richmond to South Yarra and abolition of the signal box there, the station retained three emergency crossovers at the north end of platforms 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6. The latter set was removed in 1983, followed by the middle pair by 23 June 1984 and the final set in August 1986.[6][7]

The station was upgraded to premium station status in 1996.[8]

The Pakenham and Cranbourne railway lines will cease to stop at South Yarra station when the Metro Tunnel opens, which is scheduled to take place in 2025.

Platforms and services

South Yarra station has six platforms. It is serviced by Pakenham,[9] Cranbourne,[10] Frankston,[11] and Sandringham[12] Metro Trains services.

Platform 1:

• Sandringham line: all stations services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

• Sandringham line: all stations services to Sandringham

Platform 3:

• Frankston line: all stations services to Flinders Street

Platform 4:

• Frankston line: all stations and limited express services to Frankston

Platform 5:

• Pakenham line: all stations services to Flinders Street
• Cranbourne line: all stations services to Flinders Street

Platform 6:

• Pakenham line: all stations and limited stops services to Pakenham
• Cranbourne line: all stations and limited stops services to Cranbourne

Transport links

Yarra Trams operates one route that passes South Yarra station:

• 58: West Coburg - Toorak[13]

Gallery

• 
  Southbound view from platforms 2 & 3 in June 2014

References

1. "Train Station Patronage FY2008-2014" (XLS). Public Transport Victoria. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016. (access from "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link))
2. "Station Patronage Data 2013-2018". Philip Mallis. Transport for Victoria. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
3. South Yarra station set for a $12 million makeover
4. South Yarra Station upgrade
5. South Yarra Vicsig
6. "Works". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. August 1984. p. 252.
7. "Works". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. March 1987. p. 91.
8. "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1997. p. 310.
9. "Pakenham Line". Public Transport Victoria.
10. "Cranbourne Line". Public Transport Victoria.
11. "Frankston Line". Public Transport Victoria.
12. "Sandringham Line". Public Transport Victoria.
13. "58 West Coburg - Toorak". Public Transport Victoria.

Further reading

Cooper, John Butler (1924). The history of Prahran 1836-1924 : from its first settlement to a city. Melbourne, Vic: Modern Printing Co.

External links

• Media related to South Yarra railway station, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons
• Melway map at street-directory.com.au