Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central business district. The Docklands Stadium sports arena is north-west of the station.
The station is owned, operated and maintained by Civic Nexus, a subsidiary of IFM Investors and operating as Southern Cross Station Pty Ltd, under a 30-year lease to 2036 from the Victorian State Government, as part of a public-private partnership. Southern Cross Station contracts Infranexus for management services. Infranexus is also wholly owned by IFM.
The station is the terminus of the state's regional railway network operated by V/Line, The Overland rail service to Adelaide, and NSW TrainLink XPT services to Sydney. It is also served by metropolitan rail services operated by Metro Trains, and connects with Flinders Street station and the underground City Loop. It is the second busiest railway station in Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 19.5 million metropolitan passenger movements recorded in 2018/19. In 2018/19 the station also recorded an additional 6.3 million regional passengers through the V/Line network.
Southern Cross also has a coach terminal underneath the Spencer Outlet shopping complex. SkyBus services to Melbourne Airport and since 2017 to Avalon Airport operate from there, as well as Firefly Express and Greyhound Australia interstate coach services, a coach ran public bus (684) and V/Line coach services to Mildura, Yarram, Mansfield, and other parts of Victoria not served by rail.
History
Opened as Spencer Street station in 1859, five years after the other major Melbourne rail terminus at Flinders Street, the station was a dead-end terminus, running parallel to Spencer Street, composed of a single main platform with a dock platform at the north end. It was not until 1874 that an extra platform was provided.
The two major city stations were not linked until 1879, when a single-track ground-level line was opened. It operated only at night, and only for freight trains. In the 1880s, it was proposed that Spencer Street station be removed in order to facilitate the westward expansion of the city, but the plan was subsequently rejected.
1880s: Passenger services commence
The 1880s saw the first of several grand but unrealised plans for the station. The first accepted design, drafted by Albert Charles Cook in 1883, was a fanciful Palladian palazzo design of two and three storeys, with a central portico.
From 1888 to 1894, the layout of the platforms was altered, with new country platforms being built on an angle to Spencer Street itself. The current coach terminal location was the site of a number of new platforms built for suburban services.
In 1891, further plans were made for a significant new station complex, including three-storey office complex and dominant clock tower, reminiscent of the later Sydney Central station, but the 1890s depression put an end to such expensive schemes.
In 1888, work started on the double track Flinders Street Viaduct linking the station to Flinders Street station. The line was initially only used by freight trains, with passenger train operations commencing in 1894. It was at that time that the first through platform was provided at the station, used by suburban trains from Essendon and Williamstown. The viaduct to Flinders Street was expanded to four tracks in 1915 and, following the electrification of the suburban lines through the station, today's platforms 11 to 14 were opened in 1924, along with a pedestrian subway providing access to them.
In 1938, it was announced that construction of an improved station entrance and new car park had been approved, designed by architects Messrs Stephenson and Meldrum, costing £2,000. Once again however, no construction took place.