South Kensington railway station

South Kensington
PTV commuter rail station
Eastbound view from Platform 2, May 2023
General information
LocationChilders Street,
Kensington, Victoria 3031
City of Melbourne
Australia
Coordinates37°47′59″S 144°55′33″E / 37.7997°S 144.9258°E / -37.7997; 144.9258
Owned byVicTrack
Operated byMetro Trains
Line(s)
Distance3.49 kilometres from
Southern Cross
Platforms2 side
Tracks6
Construction
Structure typeGround
ParkingYes
AccessibleYes—step free access
Other information
StatusOperational, unstaffed
Station codeSKN
Fare zoneMyki Zone 1
WebsitePublic Transport Victoria
History
Opened11 March 1891 (1891-03-11)
Rebuilt1975
ElectrifiedAugust 1920 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2005–200689,182
2006–2007120,945 35.61%
2007–2008142,531 17.84%
2008–2009207,901 45.86%
2009–2010249,613 20.06%
2010–2011281,410 12.73%
2011–2012284,298 1.02%
2012–2013Not measured
2013–2014338,162 18.94%
2014–2015342,741 1.35%
2015–2016394,707 15.16%
2016–2017398,191 0.88%
2017–2018406,011 1.96%
2018–2019412,850 1.68%
2019–2020304,750 26.18%
2020–2021127,950 58.01%
2021–2022159,950 25.01%
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station
Footscray
towards Werribee
Werribee line North Melbourne
Footscray
towards Williamstown
Williamstown line
     Sunbury line does not stop here
Track layout
1
2
to
North Dynon
Rail Yard

South Kensington railway station is a commuter railway station on the Werribee and Williamstown lines, part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the inner north-western suburb of Kensington in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. South Kensington is a ground-level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 11 March 1891, with the current station provided in 1975.

Freight lines run to the south of the station. The closest of those lines are used by V/Line to reverse empty services from Traralgon and Bairnsdale, while the tracks further south are used by a variety of standard gauge freight operators. The lines to the east join Melbourne Yard, while those to the west are the South Kensington–West Footscray set of lines that lead to either South Dynon or West Footscray, via the Bunbury Street tunnel.

All the private sidings that formerly existed around South Kensington have now been closed. They included a siding to a large wool store to the north-east (now demolished), one to a warehouse and silos to the east (open but no longer served by rail), and two sidings to the north serving the Melbourne City Council abattoirs and Kenstore, a military warehouse complex that opened during World War II.

The current configuration of the station dates from 2014, as part of the Regional Rail Link (RRL) project. The goods-only tracks immediately to the south of the station were replaced by a pair of tracks used by regional passenger services operating to and from Southern Cross. The signal box, formerly located at the up end of the down platform (Platform 2), was demolished to make way for the new RRL tracks. A mural outside the station on Childers Street was funded by the City–Maribyrnong River arm of the project, but it has since been painted over.