Bairnsdale railway station is a regional railway station and the terminus of the Gippsland line, part of the Victorian railway network. It serves the city of Bairnsdale, in Victoria, Australia. Bairnsdale station is a ground level premium station, featuring one side platform. It opened on 8 May 1888, with the current station provided in 2004. It initially closed in August 1993, then reopened on 3 May 2004.[1]
Until 1987, the line continued to Orbost. This has been redeveloped as the East Gippsland Rail Trail, a shared bicycle, walking, and horse-riding track.[2]
History
The railway line opened to Bairnsdale in 1888, and from 1916, continued through to Orbost, until this section was closed in 1987. The passenger service to the town was named The Gippslander in 1954, but services were suspended beyond Sale in August 1993.[3]
Following the cessation of log trains in December 1995, the line between Sale and Bairnsdale was closed, until it was partially reopened for log trains in mid-1999. Following major infrastructure repairs, the passenger service was restored on 3 May 2004, as part of the Linking Victoria program.[3][4] Until mid-2009, a five-day-a-week freight train hauling logs from Bairnsdale to North GeelongYard operated from a siding approximately 2.5 km west of the station.
