Wodonga railway station

Wodonga

The original Wodonga station platform looking towards Melbourne
Station information
Code	WOD
Distance from Southern Cross	299.105 - 299.285 km
Operator	V/Line
Lines	Albury-Wodonga
# Platforms	2
# Tracks	1 (SG)
Status	Original station: closed to train and bus passengers New station: open to train and bus passengers
Viclink profile	Link
Opened	21 November 1873

Wodonga is a railway station located on the Albury-Wodonga line, serving the city of Wodonga, Victoria, Australia. Since November 2008 the station has been closed to V/Line rail services, the passenger service being provided by road coaches. In 2010 the original 1873 station and rail route through the city was decommissioned, with a new station being opened on a new alignment on the northern edge of Wodonga.

Platforms and services

• Albury-Wodonga line - Broad gauge line between Seymour and Albury closed to be converted to standard gauge, coach services replacing trains until further notice. When the line reopens, the town of Wodonga and old station will be bypassed and closed, with a new station opening in the north of town.

History

As a terminus

Wodonga station was the original terminus of Victoria's North Eastern Railway which was built during the 1870s, reaching Wodonga in 1873. The connection through to the standard gauge system across the Murray River to Albury was not completed for a few years, partly because the New South Wales standard gauge system had not yet extended as far south as Albury.

Eventually the NSW system was extended southwards from its originating terminus in Sydney to Albury, but the terminals of the broad and standard gauge systems remained separated by the Murray River and a few miles of its surrounding swampy flatlands and billabongs. Intercolonial rivalries were settled by the building of lines and bridges of both gauges across the border river flats with both Albury and Wodonga being transfer stations, this connection being completed in 1883. Albury later became the passenger interchange station and the major freight transshipment point.

Uniform gauge

The line to Bandiana, looking east from the former Wodonga turning triangle

In 1962 the standard gauge line was extended south from Wodonga to Melbourne and from that time onwards, most interstate haulage was on the standard gauge. Some broad gauge passenger trains still continued to run to Albury to provide a local service to north eastern Victorian towns but the long distance interstate freight and passenger trains were run via this new continuous standard gauge link between Melbourne and Sydney.

Livestock, mostly beef cattle, formed a large part of the freight carried to Melbourne from Wodonga, where large saleyards were established near the station. Meatworks were also one of Wodonga's main industries. After 1980 the saleyard location was moved to Bandiana, east of Wodonga. Dual gauge rail access was constructed at this selling centre which was adjacent to the Victorian Cudgewa branchline. Services on this branch were discontinued beyond Bandiana and the Victorian rail system soon ceased livestock carriage. Cattle continued to be occasionally railed from northern NSW to Bandiana Saleyards until 1987 when this rail traffic also ceased. In later years the sidings at Bandiana are used as a rail container terminal by standard gauge trains only, until closure of the line on 1 September 2009.

Until November 2008 Pacific National operated broad gauge freight services from the Wodonga Coal Sidings to North Shore station (in Geelong) carrying logs for woodchipping.

Wodonga Rail Bypass

The Wodonga Rail Bypass project moved Wodonga station from the original central location to a position on a new line on the northern edge of the town, along with five kilometres of new track. The release of railway land will allow the redevelopment of Wodonga's commercial area, and eliminate ten level crossings. First conceived in 2000, design work commenced in 2006.

In May 2008 it was announced that the project would commence as part of an upgrade of the Albury-Wodonga East railway, with the Australian Government investing $45 million in the works at Wodonga. The last passenger train passed through Wodonga on 8 November 2008, with coaches operating between Seymour and Albury until the new line and station is complete. The first train passed through the new station site on 15 March 2010: a freight service delivering concrete sleepers.

On 23 July 2010 the new rail bypass was opened, and the original line through Wodonga abandoned and decommissioned. The new station was being built as part of the project, but was not commissioned until a later date.

On 25 June 2011 the new station was officially opened, people at the opening enjoyed a shuttle service between Albury and Wodonga and the official cutting of the ribbon by member for Benambra Bill Tilley, Wodonga mayor Mark Byatt and Minister for Transport Terry Mulder.

References

The closed Barnawartha Station is located between Wodonga and Chiltern stations.