IT TOOK more than two decades for capacity in the City Loop to begin to be tested. It took less than two days at South Morang.

In its first week, South Morang railway station is struggling to cope with demand, its sprawling 450-space car park filling by 7.30am, and overloaded connecting buses leaving would-be passengers stranded in the afternoon.

Frustrated car drivers vying for parking spots are still not sold on the new station. Credit:Justin McManus

Commuters have been parking in the neighbouring Westfield shopping centre, which has reacted by leaving notices on windscreens telling drivers not to park there and noting vehicle number plates.

Kellie Macnaughtan, 17, was one of about a dozen schoolchildren who could not squeeze onto the bus from South Morang to Doreen on her way home on Monday, the first school day after the station opened.