page_title: Flinders Street railway station
section_title: Platforms
hierarchical_section_title: Flinders Street railway station / Platforms
caption_attribution_description: English: Flinders st station platform, Melbourne, Australia.
context_page_description: Flinders Street railway station is an historic building located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, today it serves the entire metropolitan rail network, as well as some country services to eastern victoria. Backing onto the Yarra River in the heart of the city, the complex includes platforms and structures that stretch over more than two whole city blocks, from east of Swanston Street nearly to Market Street.
  Flinders Street is served by Metro's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland. It is the busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with over 77,153 daily entries recorded in the 2017/18 fiscal year. It was the terminus of the first railway in Australia, was reputedly the world's busiest passenger station in the 1920s. The 708-metre platform 1+14+'milk dock' is Australia's longest, and the fourth longest railway platform in the world. Flinders Street Station is responsible for two of Melbourne's busiest pedestrian crossings, both across Flinders Street, including one of Melbourne's few pedestrian scrambles.
context_section_description: The platform layout at Flinders Street is unusual among Australian terminal stations for being almost entirely composed of through tracks – a product of the constrained geography of the site and the haphazard development of the rail network around it. The first platform at the station, constructed near and parallel to Flinders Street itself, was barely 30 m (98 ft) long, and allowed trains from Port Melbourne to terminate. The opening of the rail connection under Swanston Street in 1865 enabled trains from Brighton to access the platform, and so it was later extended to enable the simultaneous arrival of trains from the east and west.
  A second platform to the south of the first was provided in 1877, after the amalgamation of railway companies began to increase traffic at the station. Platform expansion began in earnest following the 1882 recommendation that Flinders Street be developed as a major terminal, and the subsequent government acquisition of the railways: between 1889 and 1892, three further platforms were constructed on land acquired from the former fish market in anticipation of additional traffic, which eventuated when Essendon, Coburg and Williamstown trains were routed across the viaduct in 1894. Development continued with the completion of the 1899 ground plan, which specified a total of 11 platforms – platform 1 along the main building and five pairs of island platforms to the south. The remaining platforms were constructed as works progressed on the main building, and in 1909, a decision was made to extend platforms 10 and 11 eastwards, creating two new platforms numbered 12 and 13.
  Railway officials proposed amalgamating the nearby Princes Bridge station with Flinders Street with improved passenger connections in the 1890s, but failed to obtain funding from the state government for the project despite the massive redevelopment works. Nevertheless, the two stations were merged for signalling and operational purposes in 1910, and in 1966, platform 1 at Flinders Street was extended to meet its counterpart at Princes Bridge, creating a single platform face with a length over 800 m (2,600 ft). The west end of platform 1 could also be used as a separate "platform 1 West". Eventually, in 1980, Princes Bridge was formally incorporated into Flinders Street and its three platforms were renumbered 14, 15 and 16.
  Several platforms were decommissioned in the early 1990s following reductions in suburban train services. Platform 11 fell into disuse following the closure of the Port Melbourne line in 1987, and platforms 14, 15 and 16 were closed, along with the west end of platform 1. The platform 11 site was converted into a bar and restaurant in 2014, although proposals were made to reopen it by the East West Link Needs Assessment Platforms 15 and 16 were demolished during construction of Federation Square, but platform 14 remains intermittently in use.
  A short dock platform, known as the Milk Dock or Parcels Dock, was constructed in 1910 to the north of platform 1 at the west end of the main building. Prior to the widespread transport of dairy products by road, the dock was a distribution centre for milk and other small goods arriving in Melbourne on early morning trains from Gippsland. Other small goods and parcels were later also loaded at the dock until most such traffic ceased in the 1960s. The structure remains essentially intact.
  Three concourses link the platforms. The main concourse is at the east end of the station, located off Swanston Street and the main dome, and has direct access to all platforms via escalators, stair and elevators. The Degraves Street subway runs under the centre of the station, exiting to Flinders Street at the north end, with stairs directly connecting to all platforms except for platform numbers 12 and 13. The Elizabeth Street subway is at the west end, and has direct access via ramps to all platforms except for platform numbers 12, 13 and 14. Platform 1 has access via stairs via the Elizabeth street subway.
  Trains may use a different platform if the platform it is originally schedu
caption: View along Platform 2
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