Altona Station

Altona is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in the suburb of Altona, on the Werribee railway line. Altona is not staffed and is in myki Zones 1+2 overlap.

Station overview

Facilities

Altona is located on the western side of the Pier Street level crossing, with station access from Pier Street and Railway Street South.

The station consists of one side platform, with a large brick building at the Flinders Street end of the station. The building houses a semi-enclosed waiting area and a disused ticket office. A myki ticket vending machine is located inside the waiting area.

History

The railway to Altona was opened on 9 November 1888, but to a station called named Altona Beach, which was about a kilometre to the east of the current station. The line was privately owned from its inception, but the Victorian Railways (VR) took over train operations in 1917, opening a new Altona Beach station on the present site on 1 December 1917. For a period of time de-motored McKeen railmotors were used to as carriages on the passenger services.

By 1924 the private company which owned the Altona line owed the VR £7,289 through guarantees against losses on operating the services, so the VR took full control of the line on 1 October 1924. The station was renamed Altona in 1938. There was a loop siding beside the platform for a number of years, and the line once extended west to serve a brown coal mine a little to the north of where Westona station now stands. The Altona line was extended to Westona in January 1985, and to Laverton in April the same year.