Cobblebank railway station

Cobblebank railway station is a regional railway station on the Ararat line. It serves the western suburb of Cobblebank, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Cobblebank station is a ground level premium station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 1 December 2019.^[2]

Cobblebank
PTV regional rail station
Westbound view from Platform 2, December 2019
General information
Location	Ferris Road, Cobblebank, Victoria 3338 City of Melton Australia
Coordinates	37°42′42″S 144°36′07″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	V/Line
Line(s)	Ballarat Ararat Maryborough (Ararat)
Distance	34.39 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2 side
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	At grade
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Operational, unstaffed
Station code	TLN
Fare zone	Myki Zone 2
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	1 December 2019; 5 years ago (2019-12-01)
Previous names	Toolern (provisionally)
Passengers
2019–2020	25,450[1]
2020–2021	46,950[1]  84.47%
Services
Preceding station V/Line Following station Rockbank towards Southern Cross Ballarat line Melton towards Wendouree Ballarat line (Melton line) Melton towards Bacchus Marsh Melton Terminus Ararat line Melton towards Ararat Maryborough line One daily service Melton One-way operation
Track layout Legend to Rockbank Mount Cottrell Road 1 2 Ferris Rd (Removing by 2026) to Melton
Location

The station was provisionally named as Toolern. However, during construction, it was given the name "Cobblebank".

History

Rail Motor Stopping Place No. 65 opened on 1 October 1934, and was at the approximate location of the present Cobblebank station.^[2] By 4 November 1968, it had been removed from the Victorian Railways working timetables and, on 8 July 1969, it was closed to traffic.^[2]

In November 2017, the Victorian State Government announced the station would be built, with a scheduled completion date of late 2019.^[3][4][5] The station, built as part of the Regional Rail Revival project, was provided to serve future residential developments nearby.^[6][7]

On 26 October 2018, the designs for the station were released^[8] and, at the same time, it was renamed from Toolern to Cobblebank.^[9] Despite that, it still uses the station code for Toolern (TLN).^[2]

On 1 December 2019, the station opened,^[10] with around 1000 community members attending the opening celebration.^[11][12][13] The station opening coincided with the duplication of 18 km of track between Deer Park West and Melton.^[14][2]

First announced by the Andrews State Government in 2018, the station was planned to eventually be integrated into the metropolitan railway network, as part of the Western Rail Plan up until 2023 when the State and Federal governments conducted a 90 day review on all national infrastructure projects to reduce government spending and the review concluded that the Western Rail Plan would be canceled which included electrification to Melton and Wyndham Vale as well as the Geelong fast rail.^[15]

Platforms, facilities and services

Cobblebank has two side platforms. Platform 1 operates as the up platform towards the city being the north platform, whilst Platform 2 operates on the south side and as the down platform towards Ballarat. The station has a ticketing office, an office and holding cell for Protective Services Officers, a waiting room, male, female and accessible toilets, a Parkiteer bicycle parking cage, an accessible pedestrian overpass with lifts, ramps and stairs, and bus and car parking.^[16] The station has provision for two express railway tracks,^[17] which may be used for future electrification for the line.^[18]

It is served by V/Line Ballarat, Ararat and Maryborough line trains.^[19]

Platform 1:

•  Ballarat line  services to Southern Cross
•  Ararat line  services to Southern Cross
•  Maryborough line  one daily service to Southern Cross

Platform 2:

•  Ballarat line  services to Melton, Bacchus Marsh and Wendouree
•  Ararat line  services to Ararat

Transport links

Transit Systems Victoria operates two bus routes to and from Cobblebank station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  454 : to Melton station^[20]
• FlexiRide Melton South^[21]

Gallery

• 
  Opening of the station by the Hon. Jacinta Allan, Minister of Transport, December 2019
• 
  Platform 2 station building and entrance, December 2019
• 
  Platform 2 environs and overpass,
  December 2019
• 
  Passenger waiting room and bus stops,
  December 2019
• 
  Eastbound view from Platform 2, towards Southern Cross, December 2019
• 
  View of the pedestrian stairs from Platform 1, December 2019
• 
  Northbound view of the pedestrian concourse, December 2019
• 
  Eastbound view from Platform 1, towards Southern Cross, December 2019
• 
  Southern Cross bound VLocity train arriving into Platform 1, December 2019
• 
  Northbound view of the station from Coach Street, December 2019