Melbourne Central railway station, Melbourne

Melbourne Central
Commuter rail station
Location	La Trobe Street, Melbourne
Coordinates	37°48′36″S 144°57′46″E / 37.81000°S 144.96278°E / -37.81000; 144.96278Coordinates: 37°48′36″S 144°57′46″E / 37.81000°S 144.96278°E / -37.81000; 144.96278
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro
Line(s)	Alamein (weekday pre-peak and post-peak only) Belgrave Craigieburn Cranbourne Frankston (weekday peaks and weekends only) Glen Waverley Hurstbridge Lilydale Pakenham Sandringham (weekends only) South Morang Sunbury Upfield Werribee (weekends only)
Platforms	4 (2 island)
Tracks	4
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Status	Premium station
Station code	MCE
Fare zone	1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	24 January 1981
Electrified	Yes
Traffic
Passengers (2013/14)	15.925 million  11.3%
Services
Direction of travel on metropolitan lines between stations on the City Loop changes to either Flagstaff or Parliament depending on the line and time of day. Preceding station   Metro Trains   Following station Flagstaff One-way operation South Morang line Parliament toward South Morang Hurstbridge line Parliament toward Hurstbridge Flagstaff toward Flinders Street Lilydale line Parliament toward Lilydale Belgrave line Parliament toward Belgrave Alamein line Parliament toward Alamein Glen Waverley line Parliament toward Glen Waverley Pakenham line Parliament toward Pakenham Cranbourne line Parliament toward Cranbourne Frankston line Parliament toward Frankston Sandringham line Parliament One-way operation Flagstaff toward Upfield Upfield line Parliament toward Flinders Street Flagstaff toward Craigieburn Craigieburn line Flagstaff toward Sunbury Sunbury line Flagstaff One-way operation Werribee line Passengers for the Williamstown line must change at Southern Cross (weekday mornings), North Melbourne (weekday afternoons) or Newport (weekends).

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.

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 metres (551 ft) long and 22.5 metres (74 ft) wide, 29 metres (95 ft) deep at the Swanston Street end and 22 metres (72 ft) 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 Melbourne Museum 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.

...
Wikipedia