Richmond Train Station is the busiest train station outside Melbourne’s central business district. It collects transit passengers from the Richmond area, as well as those travelling in on the 70 tram along Swan Street and the 246 bus along Hoddle Street.

Better precinct design

At the moment the station precinct isn’t focussed on public transport users – it deserves a much better design. The image below shows our proposal.

Image credit: Streets Alive Yarra

Note several key elements:

Moving the tram stop and pedestrian crossing away from Cremorne Street frees up the Swan/Cremorne intersection for cars.

Locating the tram stop right in front of the station makes it easier for public transport users to move between modes.

Moving the car parking from Swan Street into the adjacent parking area (marked pink) makes it safer to park or re-enter traffic, instead of attempting to reverse out into Swan Street.

Changing the tram stop to a protected superstop makes it safer for tram users to enter or disembark from trams.

Adding two zebra crossings make it easier for transit users to walk to offices and shops in Cremorne Street.

Discussion

At the moment Swan Street has a single shared lane in each direction for cars and tram at most times. The proposed design for the tram superstop retains this, and matches the proposed design for the rest of Swan Street. During peak hours there is a clear way, with two lanes in each direction. To prevent the proposed design acting as a bottle neck, Swan Street should (like many inner city streets) impose time-of-use driving charges. This would encourage motorists to drive outside of peak times.

All this work can be done as part of the Streamlining Hoddle Street project and the adjacent continuous flow intersection for Swan & Punt/Hoddle. It can also be done as part of the long awaited upgrade to Richmond Train Station:

Update

Update – as part of the Streamlining Hoddle Street project, VicRoads has chose a different solution, where the tram super stop is located near Punt Road, instead of right outside Richmond Railway Station.

Video credit: VicRoads

Other proposals

The website www.cremorne2025.org also proposes a redevelopment of Richmond Train Station including a high rise tower:

Next → Yarra’s driving network