Westall railway station

Westall railway station is a commuter railway station on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines, which are part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the south-eastern suburb of Clayton South, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Westall station is a ground-level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 6 February 1951, with the current station provided in 2010.^[4]

Westall
PTV commuter rail station
South-east bound view from Platform 2, January 2021
General information
Location	Rayhur Street, Clayton South, Victoria 3169 City of Kingston Australia
Coordinates	37°56′18″S 145°08′18″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Pakenham Cranbourne
Distance	22.64 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	3 (1 island, 1 side)
Tracks	3
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	170 spaces
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, premium station
Station code	WTL
Fare zone	Myki Zone 2
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	6 February 1951; 73 years ago (1951-02-06)
Rebuilt	11 October 2010
Electrified	December 1922 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2005–2006	328,908[1]
2006–2007	259,825[1]  20.99%
2007–2008	413,295[1]  59.05%
2008–2009	532,591[2]  28.86%
2009–2010	531,782[2]  0.15%
2010–2011	472,518[2]  11.14%
2011–2012	538,259[2]  13.91%
2012–2013	Not measured[2]
2013–2014	591,264[2]  9.84%
2014–2015	572,540[1]  3.16%
2015–2016	681,926[2]  19.1%
2016–2017	705,592[2]  3.47%
2017–2018	941,057[2]  33.37%
2018–2019	894,238[2]  4.97%
2019–2020	676,550[2]  24.34%
2020–2021	339,550[2]  49.81%
2021–2022	474,400[3]  39.71%
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Clayton towards Flinders Street Pakenham line Springvale towards Cranbourne or East Pakenham Cranbourne line
Track layout Legend to Clayton 1 2 3 to Westall Train Maintenance Depot to Springvale

History

Opening on 6 February 1951, Westall station originally comprised two workers-only platforms for staff at the adjacent Martin & King railway coach-building factory. On 1 June 1959, the station became available to the general public, and all services began stopping there.^[5] The station, like the locality itself, gets its name from an early market garden proprietor who lived in the area.^[6][7]

On 19 July 1975, the former timber station building on Platform 1 was damaged by fire.^[8] In 1985, boom barriers were provided at the former Westall Road level crossing, which was located at the down end of the station.^[9]

The station had a stabling yard located at its southern end, as well as a number of industrial sidings serving nearby factories.^[10] On 17 April 1998, the Westall train maintenance centre was officially opened in the former goods yard, as part of the decentralisation of train stabling and maintenance from the former Jolimont Yards.^[11] The buildings were approximately 2,850 m² in size, and permitted bogie repair and replacement, under-carriage and overhead work. The facility cost $15 million, which also included the Bayswater facility.^[12]

In 2000, the Westall Road level crossing was grade separated, and replaced with a road overpass.^[13] By 4 February 2001, the boom barriers at the former level crossing were decommissioned.^[14]

On 26 July 2006, a fire in the waiting room on Platform 1 caused major damage to half the station building, the ticket machines,^[15] 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.^[16] 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 the works completed by October of that year.^{[17][18][19][4]} Following these works, Westall was upgraded to a Premium Station.^[4]

Platforms and services

Westall 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.

It is served by Pakenham and Cranbourne line trains.^[20][21]

Platform 1:

•  Pakenham line  all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street
•  Cranbourne line  all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

•  Pakenham line  all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street
•  Cranbourne line  all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street
•  Pakenham line  all stations services to East Pakenham
•  Cranbourne line  all stations services to Cranbourne

Platform 3:

•  Pakenham line  all stations services to East Pakenham
•  Cranbourne line  all stations services to Cranbourne

Future services:
In addition to the current services, the Network Development Plan – Metropolitan Rail proposes linking the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines to both the Sunbury line and under-construction Melbourne Airport rail link via the Metro Tunnel.^[22]

•  Sunbury line  express services to West Footscray and Sunbury (2025 onwards)
•  Airport line  express services to Melbourne Airport (2033 onwards)

Transport links

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

•  704 : to Oakleigh station^[23]
•  824 : Moorabbin station – Parkmore Shopping Centre^[24]

Gallery

• 
  North-west bound view from Platform 2,
  June 2013

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. "Westall". vicsig.net. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
5. SE Dornan & RG Henderson (1979). Electric Railways of Victoria. Australian Electric Traction Society. ISBN 0-909459-06-1.
6. "Westall". Victorian Places. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
7. First, Jamie (7 January 2014). "The A-Z story of Melbourne's suburbs". Herald Sun. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
8. "Works & Safeworking". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. January 1976. p. 18.
9. John Sinnatt (January 1990). "Level Crossing Protection". Somersault. Signalling Record Society Victoria. pp. 9–17.
10. Signalling diagram of Westall – 1975
11. "General News". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. June 1998. p. 169.
12. architectus. "Public Transport Corporation Train Maintenance Facility". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
13. "D0228: Westall Road". vicsig.net. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
14. "Signalling Alterations". Somersault. Signalling Record Society Victoria. March 2001. p. 25.
15. Unofficial Metcard site: Metcard Vending Machine 2 (MVM 2)
16. Fire at Westall railway station Victorian Police 27 July 2006
17. Westall Rail Upgrade Project Department of Transport
18. Westall Rail Upgrade Project map Department of Transport
19. Westall Rail Upgrade, Melbourne Archived 16 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine WT Partnership
20. "Pakenham Line". Public Transport Victoria.
21. "Cranbourne Line". Public Transport Victoria.
22. "Network Development Plan Metropolitan Rail Overview" (PDF). Public Transport Victoria. December 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
23. "704 Oakleigh Station - Westall Station via Clayton". Public Transport Victoria.
24. "824 Moorabbin - Keysborough via Clayton & Westall". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Media related to Westall railway station, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons
• Melway map at street-directory.com.au
• Westall Train Station Video