Graham Street is

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

station, and a former railway station on the former

Port Melbourne railway line The Port Melbourne railway line is a former heavy rail line in Melbourne, Australia, opened in September 1854, that is now a light rail line. It was instigated by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company to carry passengers arriving in Vi ...

, in the inner

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Located to the north of Graham Street, between Evans Street and Station Street, and is now served by

route 109 Route 109 or Highway 109 can refer to multiple roads: Canada * New Brunswick Route 109 * Ontario Highway 109 * Prince Edward Island Route 109 * Quebec Route 109 China * China National Highway 109 Costa Rica * National Route 109 (Costa Ric ...

trams, which stop at a pair of low-level platforms. The station building was demolished in 1987.

History

The line through the station opened in 1854, and the station itself opened in 1888 as Graham Street, with the name simplified to Graham in 1909. The station was originally a pair of

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

s on a

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

railway, and was set in the middle of a landscaped reserve wide, running between Boundary and Graham Streets, a remnant of a short-lived parliamentary provision that railway reservations should be 100 yards in width. In 1914, with the opening of the New Pier (later

Princes Pier Princes Pier is a 580 metre long historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It was known as the New Railway Pier until renamed Prince's Pier after the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) who vi ...

) to the north of the existing

Station Pier Station Pier is a historic Australian pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate Ferry, ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian He ...

(formerly named Railway Pier), Graham became a junction, with a new line diverging from the up end of the station to serve the New Pier. There were two sets of interlocked gates at the Graham Street level crossing, controlled by a

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

on the western side, as well as a number of goods sidings at the up end. The Bridge Street level crossing also had its own signal box. By the 1960s, traffic to the port had dropped due to changes in cargo handling arrangements. In 1961, the branch to Princes Pier was reduced to a single track and worked as a siding, rather than a main line. Further rationalisations were made in December 1969, when the line from Graham to

was singled, with the up track lifted, and the up platform taken out of service. The

was also closed and replaced by a signal panel in a new station building, located on the down platform. The Bridge Street level crossing was provided with

boom barrier A bar, post, pole, beam, or boom gate, also known as a boom or a boom barrier, is a beam or bar on a pivot used as a gate. The boom is lowered to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point or raised to permit such traffic. ...

s in 1961, with the signal box abolished soon after. The Graham Street level crossing, at the down end of the station, had been abolished by October 1970, after the

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

of the level crossing was carried out. Only two lanes of the four lane road were built initially, with the other two completed in the next year. In January 1983, the proposal was announced that the line would be converted to

.The last passenger train ran through the station on 10 October 1987, . Goods trains had continued to run through the station to Port Melbourne until at least September of that year. The replacement light rail line was officially opened on 18 December 1987.

Tram services

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...

operates one route via Graham Street station: * : Box Hill –

References

External links

Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham Railway Station Disused railway stations in Melbourne Railway stations in Australia opened in 1888 Buildings and structures in the City of Port Phillip Tram stops in Melbourne Transport in the City of Port Phillip Railway stations in Australia closed in 1987