St Albans railway station, Melbourne

St Albans railway station is located on the Sunbury line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the western Melbourne suburb of St Albans, originally opening on 1 February 1887.

History
St Albans station opened on 1 February 1887. Originally only three trains each way passed through St Albans on weekdays and passengers had to inform the train guard at the stop prior for the train to stop. A local service was announced in 1888, although it could not start running to St Albans until 19 November that year when a single crossover was added, with tail-ropes likely used to shunt carriages with a locomotive on the adjacent track. This situation was resolved by 1898 when a second crossover was added, and by 1899 three non-interlocked signals had been provided in each direction, with the first proper signal box brought into use on 17 June 1901. Later the steam era trains operated hourly from Flinders Street to Braybrook Junction, with only eight trains continuing to St Albans.

The station was made the terminus of the electrified network from the city in October 1921, and services were improved, with trains running every 40 minutes by day and hourly at night.

The original station was located at the northern end of the Main Road level crossing, with all terminating electric trains using Platform 2.

In 1959 the station was rebuilt, with an island platform built on the southern side of the level crossing. One side faced the main line, with the other side formed a dock platform for terminating suburban trains. The old westbound platform was removed but the eastbound platform remained for Spencer Street bound regional trains. Boom barriers replaced interlocked gates at Main Road in 1986.

A signal box with a mechanical lever frame was located on the former island platform, to control access to the former back platform and sidings, now abolished.

It was upgraded to a Premium station on 26 July 1996.

A platform located west of the Main Road level crossing was used for Southern Cross bound V/Line trains, until it was replaced by a new platform east of the crossing as part of the extension of the electrified network to Sydenham in January 2002.

In November 2012 with electrification to Sunbury, V/Line Bendigo trains ceased stopping at St Albans and Metro Trains terminating services ceased, with Platform 3 no longer regularly used. The stabling yard was still used for train storage until work on grade separation began in 2015.

In late 2015, the Level Crossing Removal Authority commenced a grade separation project that replaced the Main Road level crossing with a road bridge over a lowered rail line. The rebuilt station opening on 1 November 2016. The overall project was completed by mid-2017, resulting in roughly a third of the station being directly below Main Rd with the remainder lowered.

Platforms & services
St Albans has two side platforms, located below ground level. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Sunbury line services.

Platform 1:
 * Sunbury line: all stations and limited stops services to Flinders Street and the City Loop

Platform 2:
 * Sunbury line: all stations services to Sunbury

Transport links
CDC Melbourne operate eight bus routes to and from St Albans station:
 * 408: to Highpoint Shopping Centre via Sunshine station & Braybrook
 * 418: to Caroline Springs Square Shopping Centre via St Albans North, Keilor Shopping Centre, Keilor Plains station & Taylors Road
 * 419: to Watergardens station
 * 421: to Watergardens station via Taylors Lakes, Keilor Downs, Keilor Plains station, Kealba & St Albans East
 * 423: to Brimbank Central Shopping Centre via Cairnlea
 * 424: to Brimbank Central Shopping Centre via Albanvale
 * 425: to Watergardens station via Sydenham, Delahey & Kings Park