Host station
 | This article needs to be updated. (September 2018) |
A host station is a category of railway station on Melbourne's suburban rail network, operated by Metro Trains Melbourne.[1] In terms of station standards, a host station is a middle standard station which sits between the low standard unmanned stations and the high standard premium stations.
The host station program was introduced by the Victorian Department of Transport in the early 2000s to ensure that over 80% of suburban rail passengers started their journey from a staffed (host or premium) station.[1]
Features
Host stations have the following facilities available during morning peak times (typically 6 am - 10 am Monday to Friday):[1]
- Open male and female toilets
- Typically two station hosts (customer service staff who assist passengers with queries and ticketing) and/or
- An open, staffed customer service centre (booking office), in most cases providing the same services as those of premium stations during hours where staff are available.
Like most other Melbourne railway stations, host stations contain ticketing facilities, Passenger information displays, CCTV video surveillance cameras and passenger information display boards (displaying timetables, maps, network performance, disruption notices, etc.) which are available from the first train of the day to the last.[2]
Current host stations
There is currently 26 host stations across Melbourne.[2] Once nine stations are upgraded from host to premium and 22 from unmanned to host in the near future, there will eventually be a total of 39 host stations across the network.
Stations to remain as host stations
For the present time, 16 stations will not receive an upgrade and will remain host stations for the foreseeable future:
These 10 stations will be upgraded to premium station status in the near future [citation needed]:
Future host stations
These 22 stations will be upgraded from being unmanned to host station status between June and September 2010: