Station pier

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The Spirit of Tasmania ferry at Station Pier in March 2006

The Station Pier is a historic pier to Port Phillip in Port Melbourne , a district of the Australian city of Melbourne . The pier, which is now a listed building, was opened in 1854 and is now Melbourne's most important pier for passenger shipping for ferries and cruise ships.

history

The Station Pier, originally referred to as the Railway Pier , was officially opened on September 12, 1854. The 4.5 kilometer long Port Melbourne Line rail link from Pier Station to Flinders Street Station over Sandridge Bridge for passengers and goods was opened at the same time. This is Australia's first notable railway connection. During the 1850s, the pier experienced heavy passenger traffic due to the Victorian gold rush . With the steadily increasing flow of immigrants to Victoria, the pier was extended to a length of 661 meters in 1861 in order to cope with the rapidly increasing traffic.

In the early 20th century, the original pier could no longer meet the requirements of the new and larger steamships . As a result, today's pier was built between 1922 and 1930 and has been the largest wooden pier in all of Australia ever since. The new pier was designed in such a way that arriving passengers arrive at the top of the pier, while freight traffic is handled on the level below. This construction is now considered to be far ahead. The pier has a quay length of 933 meters and can accommodate ships up to 305 meters long with a draft of up to 10.3 meters. The old pier had five tracks and a passenger platform on the south side to complement Port Melbourne Station . The new building now took up eight tracks, four of them on each side of the quay.

The pier's passenger track was electrified in January 1921, two years after electric locomotives were introduced into Port Melbourne. It was served by two trains every hour, Monday to Friday, until these were discontinued in 1930 for financial reasons. From May 22, 1933, the Pier station was approached by passenger trains again, but only to serve overseas lines. The overhead line was extended over the passenger platform to the actual pier. On March 7, 1936, the Boat Train was introduced, which consisted of a Tait Train unit painted blue with a silver roof. The name was written on top of each railcar in red letters along the exterior lighting. This direct connection between Flinders Street Station and the Pier Station was discontinued in October 1939.

In 1934, the Victorian Centenary Bridge was built over the railroad tracks to direct Beach Street traffic over it, as well as providing road access to the pier. Half of the pier's catenary was removed in October 1937, and then completely in January 1950.

In 1987 the rail connection to Port Melbourne Station was discontinued and replaced by tram line 109 to Box Hill . The Centenary Bridge was demolished in 1991. In 2001, the site at the base of the pier was renewed, adding a walkway and a number of new restaurants and cafes.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Station Pier . www.portofmelbourne.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 31, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.portofmelbourne.com
  2. ↑ Sandridge Railway Trail guide (PDF; 2.7 MB) museumvictoria.com.au. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  3. ^ Pier into the past . In: The Age . theage.com.au. October 2, 2004. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  4. ^ SE Dornan and RG Henderson: Electric Railways of Victoria . Australian Electric Traction Society, 1979, ISBN 0-909459-06-1 , pp. 58-59.
  5. ↑ Chris Banger: Rail Passenger Service Withdrawals Since 1960 . In: Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division) (ed.): Newsrail . March 1997, pp. Pages 77-82.

Coordinates: 37 ° 50 ′ 41.9 ″  S , 144 ° 55 ′ 51.6 ″  E