From marquees to Mykis, Ringwood East Station has a rich history of serving its community’s transport needs.
The new Ringwood East Station is now open to passengers, almost a century after the original station opened to great fanfare in May 1925, complete with a brass band, a marquee set for high tea, champagne toasts and children’s games.
The community celebration followed years of campaigning by locals to build a station close to the Dublin Road level crossing, petitioning the Chairman of Railway Commissioners with the promise 81 passengers “would make daily use of it”.
The go-ahead to build the original station was only given after locals agreed to cover most of the £1,580 cost and to undertake all the earthworks, with the railways department constructing the weatherboard building.
On 16 May 1925, the local paper reported that hundreds of spectators turned out to welcome the first train stopping at the station, with Mrs Wedge, wife of the Chairman of the Ringwood East Railway League, given the honour of cutting the ribbon to release the barrier gate and allow “free ingress and egress for trains”.
The station was replaced by a more modern building in 1975 to better serve the needs of the growing population in Melbourne’s east. In 1984, the rail line was duplicated between Ringwood and Croydon, with a second platform added and boom gates installed at the Dublin Road level crossing.
The opening of the new Ringwood East Station, now used by more than 650 people every day, marks the next chapter, with locals benefiting from a safer and more accessible station building, with 2 entrances via the main concourse, platforms accessible by lifts and stairs, improved lighting, CCTV and parking for more than 460 vehicles.
Dublin Road’s dangerous and congested level crossing is now gone for good, with trains running in the new trench under Dublin Road.
