East Pakenham railway station is a

commuter railway Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...

station and the terminus of the Pakenham line, serving the south-eastern

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 Pakenham and the nearby Pakenham East in

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 ...

. East Pakenham is a ground-level

premium station The Melbourne rail network is a metropolitan Commuter rail, suburban and Rail freight transport, freight rail system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan rail network is centred around th ...

, featuring an island platform with two faces, and bypass tracks for

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...

regional services. It opened on 3 June 2024. East Pakenham station was constructed at the same time as a rebuild of Pakenham station, as part of the

Level Crossing Removal Project The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) is an infrastructure upgrade project by the Government of Victoria, Australia, to remove and grade-separate 110 level crossings and to rebuild 51 railway stations on the metropolitan and regional r ...

. Until mid-2023, the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

referred to the station as Pakenham East railway station.

History

East Pakenham station was announced in February 2021. It was designed to remove a major bottleneck where through V/Line trains and terminating Metro trains were required to use the same tracks at the old Pakenham station. The new station provides separate turnback tracks for Metro trains and dedicated V/Line bypass tracks, avoiding congestion and improving service reliability. On 3 June 2024, East Pakenham station opened to passengers at the same time as the rebuilt elevated Pakenham station.

Platforms and services

East Pakenham has one

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

with two faces. It is served by Pakenham line trains. Platform 1: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street Platform 2: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street In 2025, trains on the Pakenham line will be through-routed with those on the

Sunbury line The Sunbury line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fifth longest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street railway station, Fl ...

, via the new

Metro Tunnel The Metro Tunnel, formerly known as Melbourne Metro Rail (MMR), is an underground rapid transit project currently under construction in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It involves the construction of twin rail tunnels between South Kensington ...

References

Railway stations in the Shire of Cardinia Railway stations in Australia opened in 2024 {{VictoriaAU-railstation-stub