History
The station was constructed by mining methods, and has four levels to a maximum depth of 32 metres. The site was a geological 'sandwich' of basalt in the arch area, Silurian mudstone bedrock in the lower half, and silt in the middle, which precluded the construction of the lower and upper platforms as separately driven tunnels.
Instead the station platforms are made up of two chambers linked by cross tunnels, each having two platforms on top of each other. The side of each chamber was made up of two drift tunnels, one at the top and one at the bottom. These were then linked together by 228 vertically raise bored shafts, 1 metre in diameter and 3 metres apart. The shafts and drifts were then filled with concrete, and formed the side skeleton of the station chambers. The arch of each chamber was then constructed underground across the top of the two side walls, the material below the arch excavated down to the bottom of the side walls, and temporary cross struts added between the raise bored columns until the permanent elements were added. This innovative method resulted in $1 million in 1975 money to be saved in construction costs.
Flagstaff was the last station on the loop to open. Although trains had run through the station site since 24 January 1981 when the City Loop began operating, Flagstaff only opened to passengers on 27 May 1985. Initially, the City Loop it did not operate at all on Sundays. That was changed with the introduction of Sunday trading, but at the same time that the other two underground loop stations opened on Sundays, Flagstaff station had its Saturday services cancelled.
Read more about this topic: Flagstaff Railway Station
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