Ballan railway station

Ballan is a railway station on the Ballarat railway line in Ballan, Victoria, Australia. Patronage has grown rapidly in recent years due to the township's ongoing expansion. The station is located between Atkinson Street and Walsh Street.HistoryThe station opened in 1887 as the terminus of a railway line from Ballarat. It was not until 1889 the line from Bacchus Marsh opened, finally completing the current direct Melbourne - Ballarat railway used today. Before this time Ballarat was linked to Melbourne via the Melbourne-Geelong and Geelong-Ballarat railways.Being on a single track section of track, the station served as a crossing loop, with an interlocked signal box erected in 1890. In 1893 a turntable was added, and by 1908 the station had a four road yard, passenger platform, and a goods shed and platform.In 1967 the turntable was removed, and one of the tracks in the yard was removed in 1987, with another following in 1988 leaving the platform road and a loop. in 1996 this last loop was abolished, the signal box closed, and Ballan was no longer available for crossing trains. In 2004 the track at the Melbourne end of the station was realigned as part of the Regional Fast Rail project in order to increase the maximum speeds of trains though the curve.