Ashburton railway station, Melbourne

Ashburton railway station is a commuter railway station on the Alamein line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the eastern suburb of Ashburton, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Ashburton station is a ground level premium station, featuring one side platform. It opened on 30 May 1890.^[4]

Ashburton
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view with a Comeng train stationary at the platform, June 2004
General information
Location	Welfare Parade, Ashburton, Victoria 3147 City of Boroondara Australia
Coordinates	37°51′43″S 145°04′53″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Alamein
Distance	15.39 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	1
Tracks	1
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	170
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, premium station
Station code	ASH
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	30 May 1890; 134 years ago (1890-05-30)
Electrified	October 1924 (1500 V DC overhead)
Previous names	Norwood (1890)
Passengers
2005–2006	266,850[1]
2006–2007	283,793[1]  6.34%
2007–2008	294,485[1]  3.76%
2008–2009	295,785[2]  0.44%
2009–2010	303,425[2]  2.58%
2010–2011	307,057[2]  1.19%
2011–2012	286,560[2]  6.67%
2012–2013	Not measured[2]
2013–2014	289,348[2]  0.97%
2014–2015	284,345[1]  1.72%
2015–2016	313,000[2]  10.07%
2016–2017	295,769[2]  5.5%
2017–2018	291,198[2]  1.54%
2018–2019	299,050[2]  2.69%
2019–2020	239,200[2]  20.01%
2020–2021	100,200[2]  58.11%
2021–2022	109,450[3]  9.23%
2022–2023	168,550[3]  53.99%
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Burwood towards Camberwell or Flinders Street Alamein line Alamein Terminus
Former services Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station Burwood towards Fairfield   Continued beyond Alamein as the Outer Circle line   Waverley Road towards Oakleigh   List of closed railway stations in Melbourne
Track layout Legend to Burwood 1 to Alamein

Initially opened as Norwood, the station was given its current name of Ashburton on 12 December 1890.^[4] Situated immediately north of the station, the double track becomes single for the rest of the section to Alamein.

History

Ashburton station opened on 30 May 1890, and was on the first section of the Outer Circle line.^[4] Like the suburb itself, the station was named after Ashburton Terrace in Cork, Ireland, where councillor E. Dillon, who suggested the name, had previously lived.^[5][6]

By 1893, the northern half of the Outer Circle line had been closed and, on 9 December 1895, the line beyond Ashburton, connecting with Oakleigh was closed as well. For a short period, that left the line from Camberwell to Ashburton as the only remaining stretch of the Outer Circle line.^[4]

On 1 May 1897, Ashburton closed, along with the line from Camberwell.^[4] After an outcry from the local community, that section of the line reopened on 4 July 1898, becoming the Ashburton line once again. The line was electrified on 30 October 1924 but, in the years leading up to that, it was served by the popularly-named Deepdene Dasher, which ran a shuttle between Ashburton and Deepdene, and usually consisted of an F-Class engine and one or two American-type carriages.^[7] When the track was extended 600 metres to a new terminus at Alamein, on 28 June 1948, the Ashburton line became the Alamein line.

In 1977, a signal panel was provided in the station building.^[4][8] The Train Staff and Ticket safeworking system to Alamein was also abolished in that year.^[4][8]

A siding is located at the Flinders Street (up) end of the station. In July 1989, timetabled use of the siding ended, due to the vandalising of trains stabled there.^[9] However, from time to time, maintenance trains use the siding during track works.

On 1 February 1996, Ashburton was upgraded to a premium station.^[10] Also occurring in that year, the station was the first on the metropolitan railway system where the former Metcard ticketing system was trialed.^[11][12][13]

Platforms and services

Ashburton has one platform and is served by Alamein line trains.^[14]

Platform 1:

•  Alamein line  services to Alamein; weekday all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street; all stations shuttle services to Camberwell

Transport links

Ventura Bus Lines operates one bus route via Ashburton station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  734 : Glen Iris station – Glen Waverley station^[15]

References

1. Estimated Annual Patronage by Network Segment Financial Year 2005–2006 to 2018–19 Department of Transport
2. Railway station and tram stop patronage in Victoria for 2008–2021 Philip Mallis
3. Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Data Vic
4. "Ashburton". vicsig.net. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
5. "Ashburton". Victorian Places. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
6. First, Jamie (7 January 2014). "The A-Z story of Melbourne's suburbs". Herald Sun. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
7. Beardsell, David B.; Herbert, Bruce H. (1979). The Outer Circle: A History of the Oakleigh to Fairfield Railway. Australian Railway Historical Society: Victorian Division. p. 62. ISBN 0-85849-024-2.
8. "Ashburton Signal Box (ASH)". vicsig.net. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
9. "Operations". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1989. p. 314.
10. "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1997. pp. 303–315.
11. Mitchell, Ben (19 April 1996). "A testing time for automated tickets". The Age. p. A3.
12. Kermond, Clare (25 April 1996). "The machines of tomorrow – well, perhaps next December". The Age. p. A2.
13. "Metcard – Public Field Trials". Victorian Public Transport Ticketing. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
14. "Alamein Line". Public Transport Victoria.
15. "734 Glen Iris - Glen Waverley". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au