Flinders Street Station turns 170 years old in September

In September, Australia’s oldest train station is celebrating being the major train hub for Melburnians for almost two centuries.

Flinders Street Station celebrated its 170th birthday on September 12.  The milestone of Melbourne remains the busiest station on the metropolitan network – serving more than 19 million passengers over the past year.

“Flinders Street Station is the beating heart of Melbourne’s rail network – it's an icon of the city,” Minister for Transport Infrastructure Danny Pearson said.

Previously known as “Melbourne Terminus”, Flinders Street Station began operations in 1854 through weatherboard sheds at a single platform on the banks of the Yarra River. 

Part of the original station design lives on with a section of roof moved to Hawthorn Station in 1901, where it remains to this day. 

By 1910, a new station building was opened, originally called “Green Light”. A famous anecdote known by the visitors remained: it was one person’s job to manually change the departure clocks up to 900 times in an eight-hour shift.

In the modern era, locals and visitors alike continue meeting “under the clocks” and more than 2200 train services run on the metropolitan network on weekdays – with most services starting and ending at this iconic station. 

“Everyone in Melbourne has a special memory of the station, be it meeting friends or family under the clocks or strolling through the station on the way to the footy at the ‘G’,” Minister for Public and Active Transport, Gabrielle Williams said.

Flinders Street Station serves every part of the metropolitan network, in addition to many regional services, and remains the base for many of Metro’s 7100 employees. 

Metro Trains CEO Raymond O’Flaherty said it was “privileged to be the caretaker of this historic site – Australia’s first and busiest metropolitan rail station”.

Photo: Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra.