Jolimont Yard

Jolimont Yard was an array of railway lines and carriage sidings on the edge of the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. Located between Flinders Street Station, Richmond Junction, the Yarra River and Flinders Street they were often criticised for cutting off the city from the river, being the site of many redevelopment proposals. The Princes Gate Towers (Gas and Fuel Buildings) were built over part of the yard in the 1960s, which themselves were replaced by Federation Square in the 1990s. The rail sidings themselves were progressively removed from the 1980s to the 1990s with only running lines today, but the area continues to be referred to as the 'Jolimont railyards' by Melburnians.

The area of the Jolimont Yards had long been a site of railway development. Flinders Street Station was the terminal of the first railway in the city, running to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). It was later joined by the independent Princes Bridge Station on the eastern side of Swanston Street, which served as the terminal for lines towards Richmond, South Yarra and Hawthorn. The two stations were not connected together until 1866, with Princes Bridge not reopening until 1879.

As time continued, the area between Princes Bridge and Richmond stations developed into a major yard for the stabling of suburban carriage stock, as well as the servicing of the steam locomotives that hauled them. Freight traffic was based out of Melbourne Yard and most of the country carriage stock was serviced at the Dudley Street sidings, both adjacent to Spencer Street Station. The running lines were arranged into pairs (inbound and outbound for each destination) with multiple sidings located between them.

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