Middle Footscray railway station

Footscray Country

The first station to be located near to where Middle Footscray is currently located was Footscray Main Line. The station though officially named Footscray (Country) was known locally as Middle Footscray, This station opened on 1 March 1859.^[6]

On 30 June 1887, the station was renamed from Footscray Main Line to Footscray North and again in 1889 to Middle Footscray.^[7]

This station existed from the opening of the Melbourne - Bendigo railway in 1859 until 1900 when the station and Footscray (Suburban) were merged into the current Footscray station.^[8]

Middle Footscray

Middle Footscray opened in 1906 as 'Footscray Central' and consisted of two platforms originally in a side platform arrangement. The station was also formerly located between Nicholson Street and Victoria Street^[9]

In 1927, the station was reconstructed about 160 metres west of its original location, to allow for the building of the South Kensington – West Footscray goods line.^[10]

On 28 May 1923, a set of goods sidings that had existed at Middle Footscray were abolished and the points straight railed. This was done as the sidings had been made redundant by the opening of the Maribyrnong River goods line which itself had opened in 1921.^[11]

On 19 October 1926, the previous level crossing at Albert Street was closed to allow for works on grade separation and the construction of the South Kensington–West Footscray railway line.^[8] Alongside the closure of the level crossing, the signal box (Footscray C box) was abolished alongside all crossovers.

The 1906 built Middle Footscray station was closed on 2 June 1927 with all remaining signals also abolished.^[7] Between the closure of the old station and opening of the new station, the Bendigo line was progressively lowered into its new alignment into a cutting and with a bridge over Victoria Street.^[12]

Prior to 1927, a level crossing had existed at Geelong Road and was located between Middle Footscray and West Footscray. The crossing was progressively removed throughout 1927 with a temporary crossing provided during construction of a road overpass.^[13]

The new station opened on 3 July 1927, having been relocated to the western side of Victoria Street. The new station consisted an island platform. Upon the new stations opening, the station was renamed once more to Middle Footscray.^[4]

As part of the Sunbury line upgrade in 2022, both platforms at Middle Footscray were extended on the up (Footscray) end. This was to allow for the introduction of new High Capacity Metro Trains.^[14]

In 2023, a new pair of crossovers were commissioned at either end of the station as part of the West Footscray turnback project. These crossovers would allow trains to terminate at Middle Footscray from the city and Sunbury and also allowing a train to terminate at Footscray from Sunbury.^[15] At the same time as the crossovers were commissioned, Communications-based train control signalling was introduced onto the Sunbury line between West Footscray and the portal to the Metro Tunnel.^[16]

Current