Ashburton railway station, Melbourne

Ashburton Railway Station is located on the Alamein line in Victoria, Australia, serving the eastern Melbourne suburb of Ashburton. The station opened as Norwood on 30 May 1890, and was renamed Ashburton on 12 December 1890. It was part of the first section of the Outer Circle line.[1]

Ashburton
Southbound view
Location	Welfare Parade, Ashburton 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
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Status	Premium Station
Station code	ASH
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	30 May 1890
Electrified	Yes
Previous names	Norwood
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Burwood towards Flinders Street Alamein line Alamein Terminus
Former services Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station Burwood   Continued beyond Alamein as the Outer Circle line   Waverley Road   List of closed railway stations in Melbourne

By 1893, the northern half of the Outer Circle had been closed, and on 9 December 1895, the stretch 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.

On 1 May 1897, Ashburton closed, along with the line from Camberwell. 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 so-called Deepdene Dasher, which ran a shuttle between Ashburton and Deepdene stations, and usually consisted of an F-Class engine and one or two American-type carriages.[2] When the track was extended 600 metres to a new terminus at Alamein on 28 June 1948, the Ashburton line became the Alamein line.

A disused stabling siding is located at the Flinders Street (Up) end of the station. Timetabled use of this siding ended in July 1989, due to vandalism of trains stabled there.[3] It was officially booked out of service in 2015.[4] It was upgraded to a Premium Station on 1 February 1996.[5] The station was also the first on the metropolitan railway system to be tested for the former Metcard ticketing system, which occurred in 1996.[6][7][8]

Immediately north of the station, the double track becomes single for the rest of the section to Alamein.

Platforms & services

Ashburton has one platform. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Alamein line services.[9]

Platforms 1:

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

Transport links

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

• 734: Glen Iris station – Glen Waverley station[10]

References

1. Ashburton Vicsig
2. 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.
3. "Operations". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1989. p. 314.
4. "Works". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. February 2016. p. 56.
5. "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1997. p. 310.
6. Mitchell, Ben (19 April 1996). "A testing time for automated tickets". The Age. p. A3.
7. Kermond, Clare (25 April 1996). "The machines of tomorrow - well, perhaps next December". The Age. p. A2.
8. "Metcard – Public Field Trials". robx1.net. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
9. "Alamein Line". Public Transport Victoria.
10. "734 Glen Iris - Glen Waverley". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au