General Motors railway station, Melbourne

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Station information
General Motors
View from platform at General Motors station

Line	Pakenham
Code	GMH
Distance from Flinders St	33.8 km
Number of Platforms	2
Number of Tracks	2
Station Status	Closed station
Melway map	Link
Google map of station	Link

View from the Pakenham end of the station looking towards Melbourne

Towards Melbourne from the Down (Pakenham bound) platform

Northward at the former General Motors factory site from the railway station footbridge.

General Motors is a disused railway station on the Pakenham line of the Melbourne suburban rail system. It is located between Dandenong and Hallam stations, in the suburb of Dandenong South.

1 History
2 Current status
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

General Motors station was originally opened as a 'special platform' on October 1, 1956^[1] to service the General Motors Holden car factory to the north. An alternate date for the opening is November 18, 1956.^[2] Work on the adjacent General Motors Holden factory commenced with the purchase of 152 acres of land in 1951, construction commencing in 1955, and completed in 1956.^[3]

The station opened at the site of a number of private railway sidings, two years after electrification of the line though it was commissioned, and at a time when suburban services to Pakenham did not exist. As a result, only a single platform was provided on the north side on the Down (Pakenham bound) track, and services operated as extensions of Dandenong trains at factory opening and close times.^[1] This was altered on January 20, 1975 when suburban services were extended from Dandenong to Pakenham. The Up (Melbourne bound) platform and footbridge to the north was provided, and Pakenham trains were timetabled to stop at the station at factory opening and close times.^[1]

The station was provided with a crossover between the double track lines, and a signal box to control it.^[4] A number of railway sidings also branched from the station in a westerly direction along the main line. In 1979 they served the International Harvester, Heinz, and General Motors Holden factories.^[4] The station could not be accessed from public roads, with the only way in and out via a gate into the General Motors Holden factory.

In 1991, the General Motors factory closed down,^[5] leaving the station essentially isolated. It remained open for a further eleven years, despite the closure and demolition of the factory, and the fact that the footbridge now led to a fenced-off, empty paddock where the factory had once stood. It was estimated to be the least patronised station in the entire city network, with only an average of 11 passengers using it a day.^[6] By the time it closed, only eight trains stopped at the station each day — four each way.

Visitors from the Signalling Record Society had to obtain permission from General Motors and be accompanied by a security guard while at the station. The Rail Appreciation Association Victoria was another group who organised a trip to the station, travelling via ordinary train services.^[7] Another group of railfans visited the station the the last day of operation, again using regular trains.^[2]

The only means of accessing the station was to jump off the platform and cross over the tracks on foot, as no new accesses were built after the closure of the factory. This meant that it was one of only two stations on the Melbourne network to be inaccessible to wheelchairs (the other one being Heyington). The Public Transport Users Association asked that it be upgraded due to industrial growth in the area.^[8] However, M>Train, who operated the Pakenham line at the time, requested permission to close the station in 2002, due to "safety concerns and a lack of legal access".^[8] The last trains stopped at the station on Friday 26 July 2002, with the station officially closed on Sunday 28 July 2002.^[2]

[edit] Current status

Posters about the closure referred to a "temporary suspension". M>Train did not rule out the possibility of re-opening the station at a future time. (The former M>Train network is now operated by Connex, and any plans this company may have for the station are unknown).

In 2004 General Motors was still listed in the Pakenham line pocket timetable,^[9], and in 2005 the http://metlinkmelbourne.com.au trip planner was still displaying services to the station, despite the closure.^[10]

However, the station is no longer displayed on any public transport maps. As of late 2004, all signage had been removed, "KEEP OUT" signage had been installed, and access to the footbridge between platforms had been fenced off. Station announcements on the line continued to announce that trains would stop at "all stations except General Motors" until April 2007.^[11]