Parliament railway station is an underground railway station in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of the five stations (and one of the three underground) on the City Loop, which encircles the Melbourne CBD. In 2017/2018 it was the fourth busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 10.19 million passenger movements.[3]

Parliament
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view from Platform 3 in March 2020
General information
Location	Spring Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 City of Melbourne Australia
Coordinates	37°48′41″S 144°58′23″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Alamein (weekday pre-peak and post-peak only) Belgrave Craigieburn Cranbourne Glen Waverley Hurstbridge Lilydale Mernda Pakenham Sunbury Upfield
Platforms	4 (2 island)
Tracks	4
Connections	Tram
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Depth	40 m[1]
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, Premium Station
Station code	PAR
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	22 January 1983; 39 years ago (1983-01-22)
Electrified	1500 V DC overhead (January 1981)
Passengers
2008-2009	10.276 million[2]
2009–2010	10.484 million[2]  2.03%
2010–2011	10.757 million[2]  2.6%
2011–2012	10.734 million[2]  0.22%
2012–2013	Not measured[2]
2013–2014	10.963 million[2]  2.14%
2014-2015	Not measured[3]
2015–2016	10.058 million[3]  8.25%
2016–2017	9.855 million[3]  2.02%
2017–2018	10.199 million[3]  3.48%
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Melbourne Central One-way operation Mernda line Jolimont towards Mernda Hurstbridge line Jolimont towards Hurstbridge Melbourne Central towards Flinders Street Pakenham line Richmond One-way operation Cranbourne line Direction of travel on metropolitan lines below between stations on the City Loop changes to either Melbourne Central or Flinders Street depending on the line and time of day. Melbourne Central towards Flinders Street Lilydale line Richmond towards Lilydale or Belgrave Belgrave line Alamein line Select weekday peak services only Richmond towards Alamein Glen Waverley line Richmond towards Glen Waverley Melbourne Central towards Upfield Upfield line Flinders Street Terminus Melbourne Central towards Craigieburn Craigieburn line Melbourne Central towards Sunbury Sunbury line
Track layout Legend to Melbourne Central 1 3 L1 (upper) 2 4 L2 (lower) to Flinders Street to Jolimont to Richmond

The station services Melbourne's government district, and is underneath Parliament House and the intersection of Bourke and Spring Streets, at the eastern end of the CBD, and is currently the world's southernmost underground railway station, but will be surpassed by Anzac station when the Metro Tunnel opens in 2025.

History

The station platforms were constructed using mining methods. Each platform is an individual tunnel, and are linked to the other platform in the same level by a number of cross tunnels. This choice in design left the remaining pillar of rock between the tunnels too weak to support the required loads, so it was replaced with concrete. A pilot tunnel was made, enabling the walls to be constructed ahead of the main excavation.[4]

The booking hall to the south was constructed 'upside down', with the support columns dug with augers from ground level, then filled with concrete. The roof was then constructed over these piles from ground level during a series of staged road closures, and once this was completed, the excavation of the booking hall could be carried out underneath, while road traffic continued overhead. During construction, the Parliament House fence had to be removed, stored then re-erected.[4]

The station opened on 22 January 1983.[5] At the time of opening, the station had the longest escalators in the southern hemisphere.[4]

Facilities

Parliament station has three underground levels. It has a concourse level and four platforms on the two levels underneath. Each platform serves a separate group of rail lines that leave the Loop and radiate out into the city's suburbs.

Parliament has two separate concourses. They each have a ticket office, toilets and ticket operated gates.

• The northern concourse is located at the junction of Spring, Lonsdale and Nicholson Streets, and has three escalators and a lift going down to the platforms, as well has a lift and steps leading to street level.
• The southern concourse is near the Spring and Collins Street intersection, and has four escalators descending to the platforms. There are three exits to ground level via steps: one to MacArthur Street, the other two exits on Spring Street, facing Bourke Street and near Collins Street.

Platforms and services

Platform 1 - Clifton Group

•  Mernda line  all stations and limited express services to Mernda
•  Hurstbridge line  all stations and limited express services to Hurstbridge

Platform 2 - Caulfield Group

•  Pakenham line  express services to Pakenham via Flinders Street
•  Cranbourne line  express services to Cranbourne via Flinders Street

Platform 3 - Northern Group

•  Craigieburn line  all stations services to Craigieburn
•  Upfield line  all stations services to Upfield
•  Sunbury line  all stations and limited express services to Sunbury

Customers for Werribee or Williamstown services change at Flinders Street, Southern Cross or North Melbourne

Platform 4 - Burnley Group

•  Lilydale line  all stations and limited express services to Lilydale
•  Belgrave line  all stations and limited express services to Belgrave
•  Glen Waverley line  all stations and limited express services to Glen Waverley
•  Alamein line  weekday shoulder peak all stations and limited express services to Alamein

Transport links

Yarra Trams operates seven services via Parliament station:

Spring Street

• : City Circle[6]

Bourke Street

• : Bundoora RMIT - Waterfront City (Docklands)[7]
• : East Brunswick - St Kilda Beach[8]

Collins Street

• : West Preston - Victoria Harbour (Docklands)[9]
• : Victoria Gardens - St Kilda[10]
• : North Balwyn - Victoria Harbour (Docklands)[11]
• : Box Hill - Port Melbourne[12]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parliament railway station, Melbourne.

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au