Melbourne Central railway station

Melbourne Central railway station is an underground station on the metro network in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of five stations (and one of three underground) on the City Loop, which encircles the Melbourne CBD. The station is under La Trobe Street, between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets, on the northern edge of the CBD. The station is named after the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre which it is beneath. It feeds into Melbourne's main metro network station, Flinders Street and also Southern Cross Melbourne's main regional terminus. In 2013/14 it was the 3rd busiest station in Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 15.925 million passenger movements.

History
The station was built using cut and cover construction. In December 1973 to permit excavation of the station, La Trobe Street and its tram tracks were temporarily relocated to the south onto the site of what is now the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, and moved back on completion of the work in 1978. The pit was 168 m long and 22.5 m wide, 29 m deep at the Swanston Street end and 22 m deep at the Elizabeth Street end. Seven layers of struts were used to support the excavation, with 2,600 tonnes of steel temporary supports required.

The station opened as Museum on 24 January 1981 after the adjacent National Museum of Victoria and Science Museum of Victoria in the State Library of Victoria complex on Swanston Street. It was the first station on the loop to open, initially services only operated for the Burnley and Caulfield Groups on platforms 2 and 4, with trains from the Clifton Group starting to use platform 1 on 31 October 1982, and trains from the Northern Group starting to use platform 3 on 1 May 1984. The Elizabeth Street entrance to the station opened on 5 April 1982.

The adjoining Melbourne Central Shopping Centre opened in 1991, being built around the existing escalators to street level, with only minor integration between the station concourse and shopping centre. The station was renamed after the shopping centre on 16 February 1997, shortly before the then "Museum of Victoria" closed on July 13. (The museum was to reappear as the Melbourne Museum in Carlton in 2000).

The station concourse was redeveloped in 2002/03 as part of the renovation of the wider centre, while the direct escalators from the concourse to Swanston Street closed in November 2003, and were replaced by a path through the shopping centre.

In 2025, Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury railway lines will cease to stop at Melbourne Central Station as the Metro Tunnel Project opens.

Facilities
Melbourne Central, has an underground concourse and two levels of platforms below it (2 island platforms and four tracks). Each platform serves a separate group of rail lines that leave the Loop and radiate out into the city's suburbs. At peak times with a train arriving every 2.5 minutes, the station has a passenger flow of 30,000 per hour. Three elevators were initially provided, as well as 21 escalators. Melbourne Central is a premium station, meaning that it is staffed from first to last train and provides extra customer services.

The concourse has two sections separated by the shopping centre food court:


 * The Elizabeth Street concourse has stairs and three escalators providing access to the street, a walkway to the Swanston Street concourse, a booking office, ticket barriers, toilets, and stairs and five escalators leading down to the platforms.
 * The Swanston Street concourse was altered in the early 2000s when redevelopment works were carried out at the adjacent Melbourne Central Shopping Centre. Inside the ticket barriers there are toilets, and two lifts and five escalators going to the platforms. Outside is a food court, an exit to La Trobe Street and Level LG of the shopping centre (which passes under Little Lonsdale Street). There is also a lift and four escalators to the shopping centre level above. On the next level up (Level G) there is access to Little Lonsdale and La Trobe Streets via the shopping centre. Access to Swanston Street is via three escalators rising another floor (or the lift to level 1 and a 70m walk), and a walk through the shopping centre past the shot tower.

Platforms & services
Platform 1 - Clifton Group
 * Mernda line: all stations and limited stops services to Mernda
 * Hurstbridge line: all stations and limited stops services to Hurstbridge

Platform 2 - Caulfield Group
 * Pakenham line: all stations and limited stops services to Pakenham
 * Cranbourne line: all stations and limited stops services to Cranbourne
 * Frankston line: all stations and limited stops services to Frankston
 * Sandringham line: weekend all stations services to Sandringham

During 2025 Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines services are planned to be replaced by the Melbourne Metro Rail Project services.

Platform 3 - Northern Group
 * Craigieburn line: all stations services to Craigieburn
 * Upfield line: – all stations services to Upfield
 * Sunbury line: all stations and limited stops services to Sunbury
 * Werribee line: weekend all stations services to Werribee

Platform 4 - Burnley Group
 * Lilydale line: all stations and limited stops services to Lilydale
 * Belgrave line: all stations and limited stops services to Belgrave
 * Glen Waverley line: all stations and limited stops services to Glen Waverley
 * Alamein line: weekday all stations and limited stops services to Alamein

Transport links
Yarra Trams operate thirteen services to or via Melbourne Central station, on Swanston, Elizabeth, and La Trobe Streets.

Swanston Street Elizabeth Street La Trobe Street
 * 1: East Coburg – South Melbourne Beach
 * 3/3a: Melbourne University – East Malvern
 * 5: Melbourne University – Malvern
 * 6: Moreland – Glen Iris
 * 16: Melbourne University – Kew
 * 64: Melbourne University – East Brighton
 * 67: Melbourne University – Carnegie
 * 72: Melbourne University – Camberwell
 * 19: North Coburg – Flinders Street station
 * 57: West Maribyrnong – Flinders Street station
 * 59: Airport West – Flinders Street station
 * 30: Etihad Stadium – St Vincent's Plaza
 * 35: City Circle

Transdev Melbourne operate five routes from Lonsdale Street (Melbourne Central side):
 * 200: to Bulleen
 * 201: to Westfield Doncaster
 * 207: to Donvale
 * 250 to La Trobe University
 * 251: to Northland Shopping Centre

Transdev Melbourne operate eleven routes from Lonsdale Street (Myer side):
 * 250 to Garden City
 * 251: to Garden City
 * 302: to Queen Street City
 * 303: to Queen Street City
 * 305: to Spencer Street City
 * 309: to Queen Street City
 * 318: to Spencer Street City
 * SmartBus 905: to Spencer Street City
 * SmartBus 906: to Spencer Street City
 * SmartBus 907: to Spencer Street City
 * SmartBus 908: to Spencer Street City

Transdev Melbourne operate nine routes from Swanston/Lonsdale Streets (QV):
 * 302: to Box Hill Central Shopping Centre
 * 303: to Ringwood North
 * 305: to The Pines Shopping Centre
 * 309: to Donvale
 * 318: to Deep Creek
 * SmartBus 905: to The Pines Shopping Centre
 * SmartBus 906: to Warrandyte Bridge
 * SmartBus 907: to Mitcham station
 * SmartBus 908: to The Pines Shopping Centre