South Kensington railway station

South Kensington station is a railway station operated by Metro Trains Melbourne on the Werribee and Williamstown lines, part of the Melbourne rail network. It serves the inner north-western suburb of Kensington in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It opened on 11 March 1891, with the current station being provided in 1975.^[4][5]

Freight lines run to the south of the station. The closest of those lines are used by V/Line to reverse empty services from Traralgon and Bairnsdale, while the tracks further south are used by a variety of standard gauge freight operators. The lines to the east join Melbourne Yard, while those to the west are the South Kensington–West Footscray set of lines that lead to either South Dynon or West Footscray, via the Bunbury Street tunnel.

There used to be a number of private sidings around South Kensington, which have all been closed. They included a siding to a large wool store to the north-east, now demolished, one to a warehouse and silos to the east (the silos are open but are no longer served by rail). There were two sidings to the north. One served the Melbourne City Council abattoirs, and the other was constructed during World War II, to serve a military warehouse complex called Kenstore.

The current configuration of the station dates from 2014, following the construction of the Regional Rail Link (RRL). The goods-only tracks immediately to the south were replaced by a pair of tracks used by regional passenger services operating to and from Southern Cross on the RRL. The signal box, formerly located at the up end of the down platform (Platform 2), was demolished to make way for the new RRL tracks. A mural on Childers Street, outside the station, was funded by the City–Maribyrnong River arm of the RRL project, but it has since been painted over.

In 1972, the platforms were extended at the down end of the station.^[6] In 1975, the present platform shelters were provided, when the station was modified to accommodate the quadruplication of the line to Footscray.^[7] The station office, now disused, located near the entrance to the pedestrian underpass on Childers Street, was also provided around that time.^[7] On 1 July of that year, parcel facilities at the station were abolished.^[8] The following year, in November 1976, the quadruplicated line between South Kensington and Footscray was opened.^[4]

In 2020, in a survey conducted by the RACV, South Kensington was ranked as the worst railway station in Victoria.^[9]

South Kensington has two side platforms and is served by Werribee and Williamstown trains.^[10][11]

• Eastbound view from Platform 2, with the now-demolished signal box, July 2005