Jolimont Yard - History

History

The area of the Jolimont Yards had long been a site of railway development. Flinders Street Station was the terminal of the first railway in the city, running to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). It was later joined by the independent Princes Bridge Station on the eastern side of Swanston Street, which served as the terminal for lines towards Richmond, South Yarra and Hawthorn. The two stations were not connected together until 1866, with Princes Bridge not reopening until 1879.

As time continued, the area between Princes Bridge and Richmond stations developed into a major yard for the stabling of suburban carriage stock, as well as the servicing of the steam locomotives that hauled them. Freight traffic was based out of Melbourne Yard and most of the country carriage stock was serviced at the Dudley Street sidings, both adjacent to Spencer Street Station. The running lines were arranged into pairs (inbound and outbound for each destination) with multiple sidings located between them.

In 1917 the Princes Bridge locomotive depot was closed, and replaced by the Jolimont Workshops. Built as part of the electrification of the Melbourne suburban network, it was the main storage, servicing and maintenance depot for the new fleet of suburban trains. The workshops was erected to the south along Batman Avenues, with the storage sidings located between the running lines. A footbridge ran from Flinders Street across the entire yard to provide access for train drivers.

An electrical substation was also erected to the south of the yard, to feed power into the overhead wires. Of 18,000 kilowatt capacity, it was fitted with four 4500 kilowatt rotary converters and was the largest substation on the network until demolished in the early 1970s to make room for the City Loop portals for the Caulfield Group. Additional sidings were also provided in the triangle formed by the lines bound for Richmond and Jolimont. Located on the site of the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, the ground was acquired by the Victorian Railways and the Essendon Football Club played their final season there in 1921.

The next major change was construction of the Richmond Flyover beginning in early 1970s. Part of the quadruplication works between Richmond and Burnley stations, it converts the up (inbound) - down (outbound) - up - down track layout at Flinders Street to an up - up - down - down track layout at Richmond and beyond. Completed in February 1973, it also permits a cross-platform interchange between City Loop and Flinders Street direct trains at Richmond on platforms 7/8 and 9/10. The flyover necessitated the reconstruction of a footbridge that linked Yarra Park to the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Further changes occurred when the City Loop was built. In addition to the relocation of the electrical substation, numerous tracks at Richmond Junction needed to be relocated to make room for the ramps descending into the tunnel, and tracks in the yard itself were slewed as work progressed on the cut and cover tunnels. The Metrol train control complex was also constructed beside the yards on Batman Avenue, to control the loop as well as to replace the five Flinders Street signal boxes. During construction the public discovered that the building would block the view from Russell Street to the Botanic Gardens and Government House, and that it had occurred due to no planning permit being applied for. State Premier Rupert Hamer responded to public outrage and instructed the half built building to be demolished, and instructed all government departments that they must apply for planning permits, whether they were legally needed or not. The building was redesigned to be lower and resulting in completion being delayed until early 1980.