Elsternwick railway station is a commuter railway station on the Sandringham line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the south-eastern suburb of Elsternwick, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Elsternwick station is a ground level premium station, featuring an island platform. It opened on 19 December 1859, with the current station provided in 1960.[4]

Elsternwick
PTV commuter rail station
North-west bound view from Platform 2,
December 2021
General information
LocationGlen Huntly Road,
Elsternwick, Victoria 3185
City of Glen Eira
Australia
Coordinates37°53′05″S 145°00′03″E / 37.8848°S 145.0009°E / -37.8848; 145.0009
Owned byVicTrack
Operated byMetro Trains
Line(s)Sandringham
Distance10.95 kilometres from
Southern Cross
Platforms1 island
Tracks2
Connections
  • List of bus routes in Melbourne Bus
  • Melbourne tram route 67 Tram
  • SkyBus (airport bus)#Peninsula Express SkyBus
Construction
Structure typeBelow ground
Parking84
Bicycle facilitiesYes
AccessibleYes—step free access
Other information
StatusOperational, premium station
Station codeELS
Fare zoneMyki Zone 1
WebsitePublic Transport Victoria
History
Opened19 December 1859; 164 years ago (1859-12-19)
Rebuilt2 October 1960
ElectrifiedMay 1919 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2005–2006841,257[1]
2006–2007916,332[1]Increase 8.92%
2007–2008989,299[1]Increase 7.96%
2008–20091,007,936[2]Increase 1.88%
2009–20101,046,897[2]Increase 3.86%
2010–20111,069,260[2]Increase 2.13%
2011–20121,003,833[2]Decrease 6.11%
2012–2013Not measured[2]
2013–20141,074,614[2]Increase 7.05%
2014–20151,034,406[1]Decrease 3.74%
2015–20161,038,555[2]Increase 0.4%
2016–20171,120,324[2]Increase 7.87%
2017–20181,104,811[2]Decrease 1.38%
2018–2019971,210[2]Decrease 12.09%
2019–2020797,150[2]Decrease 17.92%
2020–2021385,100[2]Decrease 51.69%
2021–2022438,400[3]Increase 13.84%
Services
Preceding station Railways in Melbourne Metro Trains Following station
Ripponlea Sandringham line Gardenvale
towards Sandringham
Former services
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Junction   Rosstown Railway   Garden Vale
towards Oakleigh
Track layout
1
2

History

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Elsternwick station was originally part of the Melbourne & Hobson's Bay United Railway Company's network. The company and network was taken over by the Government of Victoria in 1878, to become part of Victorian Railways. As with the nearby suburb of Ripponlea, which had been named after the adjacent Rippon Lea Estate of Frederick Sargood, Elsternwick had been named after the largest property in the district, Charles Ebden's Elster.[5]

In the 1880s, Elsternwick also functioned as the western end of the cross-suburban Rosstown Railway, which was built by entrepreneur William Murray Ross, mainly to serve the sugar beet processing mill that he had established, along with an adjoining residential estate in the locality he called Rosstown, now known as Carnegie. The railway was seldom used and it was officially closed in 1916.

In 1915, an electric tramline between Elsternwick and Point Ormond opened. It closed on 22 October 1960, after which the tram route became part of an extended 246 bus route. In February 1959, a project commenced to eliminate the Glen Huntly Road level crossing, where a tramway also crossed the rail line. A temporary two-track station was provided in a side street parallel with the station, which allowed rail services to continue uninterrupted. In October 1960, the work was completed, which was when the present railway buildings were provided.[6][7][8]

In 1992, the station was the first in Melbourne to receive the former Public Transport Corporation's teal, sunflower and white coloured station signage,[9] which has since been replaced with Public Transport Victoria branded blue signage. On 13 November 1995, Elsternwick was upgraded to a premium station.[10]

During 2002–2003, the ground-level station car-park was closed, with a residential/retail development built on it, as part of a deal under which a developer was given the land with the condition that a multi-storey car park, including a lift, was provided for passengers. In 2004, the station underwent a refurbishment.[4]

Platforms and services

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Elsternwick has one island platform with two faces. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Sandringham line services.[11]

Platform 1:

Platform 2:

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CDC Melbourne operates two bus routes via Elsternwick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

  •  606 : to Fishermans Bend[12]
  •  625 : ElsternwickChadstone Shopping Centre[13]

Kinetic Melbourne operates three routes via Elsternwick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

Yarra Trams operates one route via Elsternwick Station

SkyBus also operates a service to Melbourne Airport via Elsternwick station.[17]

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Estimated Annual Patronage by Network Segment Financial Year 2005–2006 to 2018–19 Department of Transport
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Railway station and tram stop patronage in Victoria for 2008–2021 Philip Mallis
  3. ^ Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Data Vic
  4. ^ a b "Elsternwick". vicsig.net. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  5. ^ Elster was German for "magpie". The creek nearby became known as the Elster Creek and, when a village grew up on the creek, the Anglo-Saxon suffix ‘wick’, meaning village, was added.[1] Archived 1 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Grade Separation Scheme" Railway Gazette 19 February 1960 page 216
  7. ^ "Grade Separation Scheme" Railway Gazette 11 November 1960 page 560
  8. ^ SE Dornan & RG Henderson (1979). Electric Railways of Victoria. Australian Electric Traction Society. p. 50. ISBN 0-909459-06-1.
  9. ^ MacDonald, Jacqui (13 June 1992). "PTC tackles its image problem with a $75,000 logo". The Age. p. 6.
  10. ^ "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. October 1997. pp. 303–315.
  11. ^ "Sandringham Line". Public Transport Victoria.
  12. ^ "606 Elsternwick Station - Fishermans Bend". Public Transport Victoria.
  13. ^ "625 Elsternwick - Chadstone via Ormond & Oakleigh". Public Transport Victoria.
  14. ^ "246 Elsternwick - Clifton Hill via St Kilda". Public Transport Victoria.
  15. ^ "603 Brighton Beach - Alfred Hospital via Elsternwick Station". Public Transport Victoria.
  16. ^ "67 Melbourne University - Carnegie". Public Transport Victoria.
  17. ^ "Peninsula Express locations". SkyBus. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
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  Media related to Elsternwick railway station at Wikimedia Commons