railroad.wikisort.org - Station

South Kensington railway station is located on the Werribee and Williamstown lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the inner north-western Melbourne suburb of Kensington, and it opened on 11 March 1891.[1][2]

South Kensington
PTV commuter rail station
Eastbound view from Platform 2 in July 2005
General information
Location	Childers Street, Kensington, Victoria 3031 City of Melbourne Australia
Coordinates	37°47′59″S 144°55′33″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Werribee Williamstown
Distance	3.49 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2 side
Tracks	6
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	Yes
Disabled access	Yes—step free access
Other information
Status	Operational, Unstaffed
Station code	SKN
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	11 March 1891; 131 years ago (1891-03-11)
Electrified	1500 V DC overhead (August 1920)
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Footscray towards Werribee Werribee line North Melbourne towards Frankston via Flinders Street Footscray towards Williamstown Williamstown line      Sunbury line does not stop here

Freight lines run to the south of the station. The closest of these lines are used by V/Line to reverse empty trains from Traralgon and Bairnsdale services, while the ones further south are used by a variety of standard gauge freight operators. The lines to the east join Melbourne Yard, while those to the west are the South Kensington–West Footscray set of lines that lead to either South Dynon or West Footscray, via the Bunbury Street tunnel.

Private sidings that were formerly provided around South Kensington have now all closed. This included one to a large wool store to the north east (now demolished), one to a warehouse and silos to the east (open but no longer served by rail), and two sidings to the north serving the Melbourne City Council abattoirs and Kenstore, a military warehouse complex that opened during World War II.

The present platform shelters were provided in 1975, when the station received an upgrade due to the quadruplication of the line to Footscray.[3] The disused station office, located near the entrance to the underpass on Childers Street, was also provided around this time.[3] On 1 July of that year, parcel facilities at the station were abolished.[4] The following year, in November 1976, the quadruplicated line between South Kensington and Footscray was provided.[1]

The current configuration of the station dates from 2014, as part of the Regional Rail Link project. The goods-only tracks immediately to the south of the station were replaced by a pair of tracks used by regional passenger services going to and from Southern Cross station. The signal box, formerly located at the Up end of the Down platform (Platform 2), was also demolished to make way for the new tracks. A mural outside the station on Childers Street was funded by the City to Maribyrnong River arm of the project, however it has since been painted over.

In 2020 South Kensington railway station was ranked as the worst railway station in Victoria in a survey conducted by the RACV.[5]

Platforms and services

South Kensington has two side platforms. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Werribee and Williamstown services.[6][7]

Platform 1:

•  Werribee line  all stations services to Flinders Street and Frankston
•  Williamstown line  all stations services to Flinders Street and Frankston

Platform 2:

•  Werribee line  all stations services to Werribee and Laverton
•  Williamstown line  all stations services to Williamstown

South Kensington was also formerly serviced by Sunbury line services until 2013.

References

---