Trains & Buses at Werribee - Melbourne Transport

In this video we visit Werribee, the terminus of the Werribee Line in Melbourne's south western suburbs. Filmed on a Sunday afternoon we see various Metro Trains Melbourne EMU's arriving and departing the station; mostly Comeng trains with a lone Siemens and X'trapolis train making an appearance. We'll also take a quick look inside a Comeng and a X'trapolis train while we're waiting around.

However it's not a typical Sunday afternoon at the station. First up we see Steamrail's Rail & Sail tour passing through led by steam locomotive K140, heading back towards Melbourne after spending the day in Geelong. Around 20 minutes later we see Southern Shorthaul Railroad's (SSR) T381 & P16 hauling Infrastructure Evaluation Vehicle IEV120 'Evie' towards Melbourne after also spending the day in Geelong.

Then on a Friday afternoon we visit the Werribee station bus interchange. Werribee is a major bus hub in the City of Wyndham local government area; being served by 12 different bus routes, all of which are operated by CDC Melbourne's Wyndham depot. Werribee is served by routes 153, 161, 170, 180, 181, 182, 190, 191, 192, 439, 441 & 443.

We see the usual assortment of CDC buses including Volvo B12BLE's Scania K230UB's, Volvo B7RLE's, Volvo B5LH hybrids, and Scania K320UB's with Volgren 'CR228L' and Volgren 'Optimus' bodies. We do see particular buses of interest including several Volvo B12BLE's and a Volvo B7L with Volgren 'CR221L' bodies; which are among the oldest buses in CDC's fleet still on route service. We also see the only double-decker bus doing route service in Melbourne; bus #135 which is a Volov B9TL with a Volgren 'Optimus' body. This bus only operates on route 190 during the morning and afternoon peak.

Due to the great variety of buses and favourable spotting conditions (especially in the afternoon when the sun is generally on the right side), I consider Werribee to be one of the best bus interchanges in Melbourne to do bus spotting.

Werribee station opened on the 25th June 1857 as one of the original stations on the Geelong Railway Line. The station building on platform 3 is the original building from 1857 and is the oldest railway station building in Victoria still in use (ok St Kilda station is one month older but it's not being used for railway purposes anymore after the railway line to St Kilda closed in 1987 and converted to light rail). That said the Werribee station building isn't in original condition as it was severely damaged by fire in 1927, but the original walls, platform, and cellar are still intact. Because of this Werribee station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register for its historical and architectural importance to the State of Victoria.

For many years Werribee was served only by country trains to and from Geelong. That changed in 1983 when the line to Werribee was electrified and added to Melbourne's suburban railway network. As part of the project Werribee underwent a major upgrade which saw a new island platform built and a new large pedestrian underpass built with new station facilities. Fun fact; the underpass kiosk contains the shell of Comeng carriage 388M, which was withdrawn on the 8th May 1987 after being hit by V/Line's N457 at Officer.

Unfortunately though in my eyes Werribee station hasn't aged all that well. Despite being rebuilt in the 1980's it looks as though it was built in the 1960's. The station isn't architecturally too interesting and the large underpass is rather dingy. It's not a particularly attractive station and can feel unsafe at times. My biggest pet-peeve with the station is the single narrow ramp linking the island platform with the underpass which easily clogs up with people in peak times with limited manoeuvrability. I also dislike the bus interchange which offers only basic amenities despite how busy it can get, particularly during school times when large crowds of people can be seen waiting for buses. Put it this way; if I could only upgrade one train station in Melbourne, Werribee would be it.

Date: train clips were filmed in August 2023, bus clips were filmed in June 2023.