I thought I might clarify a few things vis-a-vis why certain (very deserving stations) didn't make the top 10. 1) I arbitrarily decided that V/line-only stations in Melbourne and Stony Point line stations don't count as being in Melbourne. It would be a boring video if I just listed most of the Stony Point line stations one-by-one! 2) I excluded stations that are currently being rebuilt. Keon Park, Narre Warren and Pakenham are all candidates that could consider themselves fortunate as a result. Loving the discussions down here!

One that was missing for me is Dandenong, the station itself isn't bad, and I like the teal colored glass, but you do not want to be stranded there at night lol.

Broadmeadows is my local station, and ever since I can remember, the underpass smells like piss and is really dodgy (especially at night). Even with the police station LITERALLY across the road, there are often brawls and bashings. FYI The corrugated sheets on the Jacana overpass aren't 'token chunks' to protect people from the weather, they're there to stop people jumping in front of trains or throwing objects onto them. Like you said, it's a low socio-economic area, life around here is pretty miserable for a lot of people.

As a lifelong Broadie/Craigieburn liner, a picture of windswept Jacana involuntarily appeared in my mind when this vid appeared in my feed. Sure enough, it did not disappoint ❤

I recently visited Australia from the US, and spent a day in Melbourne, primarily visiting Elwood, West Footscray and St Albans where my parents were teachers back in the mid '60s. I thought the trains were nice and it was easy to get around, but West Footscray station looked like a lot of the stations on this list. I did get off at Broadmeadows/Craigieburn station to catch the bus to the airport, and it was just as confusing as you described. Definitely had an interesting...aroma, let's say. Cheers, mate.

Personally I always hated Tottenham Station. It was always so sketchy especially at night and it definitely didn't help that it was located in the middle of a train yard.

Used south Kensington for a few years. During peak hour there’s scores of people squeezed on to the narrow platforms, with only a couple of pebble-mix bus stops providing shelter from the rain and wind while the rains whizz by. It was notorious for being a stop that drivers would skip even when scheduled.

Why is this video everything I’ve ever wanted I love this please keep roasting out PT

You might not like Boronia , but I remember the frequent five minute waits for the old crossing,

Living on the Werribee line no surprise South Kensington was mentioned, most would have put that #1. I would have also included Aircraft, the most dissapointing thing about that station too is it was literally upgraded. They put a whole new underpass in when the level crossing was removed, but seemingly forgot about the station itself. Still a crappy platform, next to no shelter and very few, uncomfortable seats. Could put Hoppers Crossing on the list too, as despite an upgrade the station itself was untouched. But it at least has some shelter and new seats. And as much as Werribee itself is nice, that underpass and the ramp up to the platforms need something done about them.

Broadmeadows is the ONLY station in Melbourne city with 3 single platforms. Not 1 island and 1 single

The worst part about South Kensington on the citybound platform is the outbound express trains hurtling past you on the other side of that chain fence. Very loud, firstly, and secondly the gust of wind could easily knock you off that tiny platform and onto the tracks. Genuinely dangerous. One redeeming feature it is does have a cracking city view

Lalor is my local station and it certainly deserves its place on this list, it is truly shithouse. Another reason why it is doubly bad is the fact that it doesn't align with the local shopping strip, unlike most stations. Part of this is because of a lot of complicated history -- the post WWII Peter Lalor co-operative housing development had a temporary stop (for supplies) at what is now known as Mann's Crossing where they built the shopping strip, in anticipation of where they thought the eventual train station would be. Only they moved the station further north -- which actually made more sense 'cos it would've been way too close to Thomastown. Fun video, enjoyed it a lot.

What happened to the days when they had waiting rooms with open fireplaces, ladies and gents lavatories, station masters and attendants, and highly polished taps above the gully traps? Oh, of course. Silly me. That was Victorian Railways.

I've gotta say, for me Southern Cross is hands down the worse station. Jacana et al... they will eventually get an upgrade (when Labor starts losing some outer west seats), but Southern Cross is the pits. The whole station is annoying, and seems to have been designed from ground up by someone who's seen a picture of a railway station, but never actually used one. We have platform access that's only available via unreliable spindly escalators that are constantly breaking down - there are subways, but they are reserved only for the important activities like topping up the coke machines. When the escalators do break down, you can bet on the working empty escalators operating in the opposite way depending on peak conditions. In the morning they will be descending, and in the afternoon peak, they will be ascending. The trick here seems to be to carry as few people as possible. Also this is another call to action for all those morons who like to stand two abreast on an escalator. The place stinks of diesel fumes, and must be just a massive looming worksafe class action. You can't hear the announcements, and when you're straining to hear an automated announcement that may be useful - some Metro dude on the PA blurts something out at rapid-fire so you can't hear his message and you can't hear the automated message either. They seem to do this on purpose. The passenger information displays are terrible - this isn't limited to Southern Cross though, though SC has the laughable 'next train' screens that cycle to display useless information just as you are accessing potentially useful. Whenever I need to catch a train to Bendigo VLine always makes it a bus, and you don't get to know this until you get to the station, y'know, it's like how they do it in the big European cities - they are all about slow inefficient rail and sudden bus replacements.

Love your work, MRV. Let's face it, very few of us on here have been to all of Melbourne's 222 railway stations (I certainly haven't). In an ideal world there'd be funding to modernize all these dreadful stations, but there's just too many of them. Removing level crossings, duplicating single-track and upgrading signalling to increase frequency are all higher-priority items. It's certainly fascinating to see some of these stations on lines I've never used, if somewhat depressing to realise they'll never be fixed up - at least, not in my lifetime.

As you counted down to number one, I was crossing my fingers for Jacana at the top spot. You didn’t disappoint. I used the station in late 70’s to go to Therry college (now Penola) from Oak Park and now live less than 1km from it.

Agree about Boronia. As well as an ugly design, it’s adjacent to a Woolies car park with a Coles & Kmart nearby so there’s always plenty of abandoned shopping trolleys along with the graffiti & litter. My teenage kids catch public transport to school from there and they learnt a few survival skills very early on due to a number of creepy types that loiter there.

Flinders Street and Southern Cross deserve honourable mentions. Flinders Street is effectively Melbourne’s answer to Skid Row, and Southern Cross is only loved by those with a fetish for inhaling diesel fumes. Neither have any meaningful amenities, unless vending machine pizza is your idea of meaningful.

The worst station is actually Officer station. Until recently it didn't even have a carpark. I only discovered how bad this station is because I had a friend move out to Pakenham. A few years ago there was no shelter or anything of any kind. It was just a platform.

Boronia back in the 90’s was notorious for people being struck by trains. Amongst those killed there was a deaf nun that didn’t hear the boom gates and subsequently was trapped on the tracks. I only knew this because I was a local

These stations remind me of a lot of national rail stations in South London where I'm from. A lot of them lack useful interchanges where they could be put in, shelter and poorly built entrances. All of which could be solved with cheap alternatives like better pedestrian crossings and, well, more shelters. And because of this a lot of stations south of the Thames are amongst the least used in all of London.

It makes me so mad that so many stations have just been rebuilt with little to no thought of daily usage mainly being shelter, such poor overly large and boring designs. Never sure why someone would build any place that people have to wait at without shelter… clearly the designers have never used a train station 🙄

Completely agree with that take at the end. Regent is my local station on the Mernda line and you can see the station quality drop the more north you get. Keon Park which was arguably worse than Lalor is getting rebuilt so I'm happy about that. Ruthven is just neglected though, has always been.

Glad to see my (old) stomping ground of Batman being mentioned. It's a horrendous excuse for a station yes, ever time it rained it was get soaked or stand like a sardine at the very front. It's in dire need of an upgrade, given the local property around it isn't due for upgrading (ever) from Merri-bek I guess we'll just have to make due. I've moved out to Rockbank, before it's upgrade it was a horrendously small very little shelter single platform station, typical rural station if you will. the recent upgrades (2 years or so ago now) have certainly brought it up to snuff.

Jacana Station was basic but functional, staffed and relatively well maintained till the M80 ring road was built, cutting it's name sake suburb in two, demolishing housing and businesses near by, closing off roads and crossings, leaving it isolated and hard to access, forcing more business to close, creating a dead zone around it. Then we had the local government reform program that redrew council borders placing the station and what was left of the suburb of Jacana in two different councils.

Ahhh North Richmond Use to work there for a year back in 2019, junkies everywhere, they often use their stuff right below the station ramp, or heck right under it

This is a great video. I subscribed so I can learn a bit more about the city and its surroundings in which I live. Fantastic work!!

Fantastic informative video, state gov should hire you to review every station and put in recommendations. This video brought so much information, excellent production.

This is such a good video!! 🚆Keep up the great work

Agree about Boronia, though you forgot to mention the scary feral types who get on the train there. Never felt so unsafe on a train as when I had to travel through Boronia & Bayswater stations to see a friend.

Gosh some of these stations are dreadful. Never gonna complain about Beaconsfield station again 😂. Great video 👍

I'd like to add about the Kananook line is there was a serial killer named paul denyer in that area in the early 90s who killed 3 women around the kananook/seaford area. My parents lived in the area at the time and they said it was surreal, everyone was home by 5pm and nobody went out alone. One day they were at the Frankston market which used to be opposite the police station in an outdoor lot (now its an undercover carpark), and a divvy van drove past and apparently it had the killer in the back and the crowd started hurling abuse at the guy in the back. Not sure it was actually the killer but yeah. Imagine shoplifting or something and then getting taken to the police station and an entire market starts abusing you. Great videos dude.

My vote is for Box Hill. From the days when I could wait outside in the fresh air the station is now completely hidden. If you don't know where it is you simply can't find it. Then you descend into the bowels of the earth. Deprived of any sight of the sun or sky. And wait underground in a cold windswept tunnel. Not only that but the design is the exact opposite of good planning. Downhill entering the station making more severe braking needed and uphill leaving the station requiring more power to get started. And all this being on top of a hill that used to achieve the opposite. As an "improvement" it must rank as the worst improvement on the entire system. Although Southern Cross is a strong competitor.

I was half expecting Yarraman to make the list. Mainly because of the isolation someone could feel at this station. It’s not as isolating as it once was because of all the appartments that have been built across the road. But Yarraman and Sandown Park are a bit creepy late at night. You wouldn’t know who’s hiding behind all the trees at Sandown Park. No surprises Kananook made the list. I can still clearly remember that incident in 1990. R.I.P. Sarah.

4:56 As someone who regularly uses this train there is no risk of there being people on the benches because no one ever uses this station. The only issue with the station is that the train stops there at all.

Top 10 Worst Melbourne Train Stations: All of them

Surely Heyington makes it purely cos its the only stairs-only station on the Network.

Tfs; I found this very interesting/enlightening. Grew up using the Frankston line in the 70s and 80s. Now use the Lilydale Line. Very interested to hear feedback about Boronia Station. Will check out your Top 10 best stations too. Best Wishes.

I wonder how many of the 100,000 views on this video are State Government employees, presumably scratching their heads at why those suburbs even have stations to begin with, followed quickly by taking minor umbrage at the idea that they should do literally anything about any of it. PT in Melbourne could be glorious, but instead we've got... whatever you could charitably describe as 'functional'. Loving your back catalogue of videos, thank you for all of your efforts! =)

I was in Melbourne a few months ago, and the bleakest, ugliest, most depressing station I had the pleasure of going to was Sandown Park.

I would nominate Darling and middle Footscray stations, Darling is right next to a freeway, and middle Footscray has very little passenger facilities and the platform narrows at lot at the end. Great video btw, keep up the great work!

Oh wow, South Kensington doesn't have chain-link fence from the 1960s anymore? We're in the future now, boys!

I have noticed that the station upgrades thanks to Level Crossing Removals on the Frankston line, none of the new stations have escalators, just low capacity lifts and shallow ramps. Whereas the elevated "sky rail" Dandenong line stations, and lowered Springvale were all equipped with escalators.

Good old Jacana. My go to station for when I want to walk to Melbourne Airport. Seriously, I've done that a few times and it feels like walking through something that used to be a warzone.

How did east Ringwood or Croydon stations not even make it on the list

Great work my man!

I drive past Jacana station almost daily. It's genuinely surprising - almost funny - that PTV bothered to upgrade the signage there. At Pascoe Vale, they gave up after just one sign. The less said about Boronia, the better.

There’s at least two stations that clearly need an upgrade 1. Regent (Preston/Reservoir) I find it unsafe to have to go over the tracks and walk all the way around to platform 1 coming off the 567 bus! 2. Jolimont (MCG) I cannot stand the ramp going onto platform 2 especially if a train is approaching! Cut the ramp shorter, if anything…

Stations like Jacana, although 'functional' are still very, very hard for seniors & mobility challenged people to use. And coming from that, dangerous. Making it worse, there's literally no way to get help if something happens to you on 'The Journey to the Platform' (bearing in mind that in itself is a massive journey before you even start your actual journey to wherever you're going). No matter which stations I thought would get #1, I absolutely also agree with Jacana getting the #1🏆 too. I suppose that's the absolute saddest part, that for the "World's Most Livable City" we have so many stations that are totally worthy of being ripped down tomorrow if real concerns were acted upon 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sunshine totally missed out on this list! The station isn't necessarily the worst aesthetically (even though it isn't nice at all) - the real issue is the safety and people at Sunshine. Every single time I find myself at Sunshine after the sun sets, something terrible is happening with an unruly passenger/passerby harrassing people or the safety officers. Definitely the most dangerous feeling station at night.

I've only taken the Broadmeadows train to the city once and walking down the ramp too the platform even at daytime it is so unsafe with the high fences on both sides I wouldn't walk there alone

Ruthven is pretty bad too. My local is Oak Park and it's a pain if you're getting off at platform 1 because the underpass is quite steep, as is the one at Ascot Vale...

The fact that the only Belgrave line station on this video was Boronia when Heathmont station is clearly worse (although I do admit there's not much in it) then again, Boronia does have more drug dealers.

I’m surprised to see Boronia in this list as I don’t find it too bad. Travelling from Ballarat to visit my son in Boronia, I have used this station many times.

Kinda surprised the Sunbury/Watergardens line only got one mention 😂

A station that I was surprised to see here was the Morrabin station. the platform is ok but the surroundings are awful. boarded up shops. needles and litter. one of the worst

this is actually a very interesting list! You've clearly done your research, though now i found myself increasingly surprised that Glen Iris (my local station, unfortunately) dodged the top 10. I guess the joke's on me though lol, i still pick it over Gardiner so i can actually get a park.

Moorabbin has missed out on upgrades for years. Its burnt down once and is difficult for disabled to use.

i got mugged at Broady Station twice,,,,,,,,. i totally agree with your list, especially Jacana being #1

When you consider the beautiful stations built a century ago...you have wonder about modern architects.

You left out middle Footscray. Not a good stop to get off at night. The escalators are also ridiculously steep at Parliament station.

Good list. Another angle on bad stations is the gap between the doors and the platform- which can make things unsafe for especially the elderly, people with vision issues and mobility issues. Here the otherwise pretty nice station Canterbury gets a black mark, I know people have fallen here.

Kudo’s to Broadmeadows/Cragieburn line having three out of the ten worst stations in Melbourne and thank god I don’t have to get off at Jacana, I never realised it was that awful.

Tecoma station on Belgrave line, only one track so holds up trains between Upwey and Belgrave. No real car parking and shelter.

Gotta say, this video has been a real eye opener for me re: what a bougie little South-Easterner I am, as unlike the best stations video, I can't say I'm terribly familiar with any of these stations 😅

An expose on the airport rail project is definitely long overdue... the plans for that "work in process" consist of several station sites that were planned in Melbourne's northwest since the 1960s, but just never built (if you go to them today, they're still pretty much empty, as it is government reserved land). As someone who lives in the northwestern suburbs, a half-hour car trip to the city takes me an average of 90 minutes on PT. Plus, there's the rumoured dodgy deals Tulla airport signed with Skybus, but that's just a "rumour"

It was quite nice of you to describe Boronia as a "hell hole". I wouldn't have been as lenient on it. ;)

I remember seeing Jacana voted off early as a participant in the train station game and it was like 'Wow, worse than South Kensington? Impressive' I'm suprised Heyington, the only station without wheelchair access, DIDN'T make it on here. Another candidate that is going to be a VERY unpopular opinion from me is Newport. I have to go into Williamstown a fair amount (my nearest stations are Newport, Seaholme and Altona) and every time I have to interchange there to get the 432, 471 or a Werribee line train to get home, the underpasses make me feel unsafe and the ramps are fairly steep and it feels dodgy for an interchange station. I like the library and op shop there, but... yeah. The bus services there aren't *the best* when it comes to my suburb, two bus routes, one of which only comes EVERY HALF HOUR ON WEEKDAYS AND IS NOTORIOUS FOR BEING LATE and the other that goes directly up to Williamstown but is a bit of a walk to get to, compared to every 15 minutes at least for Altona, sure the commute's a little longer on the train when I'm going places but I prefer the bus that, yk, DOESN'T TAKE HALF AN HOUR TO REACH ME AND ANOTHER NEARLY HALF AN HOUR TO GET TO THE STATION DUE TO IT'S WINDING ROUTE

I was bracing for Dandenong to make an appearance here but was surprised it missed the list, it's just the unfortunate melting pot of crazies, panhandlers or people looking for trouble on the best of days that does it in. Aside from that, the next station towards the city from there is Yarraman which I think was included in one of the shots at the start of the video, very barren single ramp access island design. Someone also attempted to steal my parked car when I was at work, fortunately they were dumb enough to only break the locks but not smart enough to actually break in. Also lucky I missed Lalor just recently when I was buying a CRT TV from some guy at the station before it (Thomastown).

you could say the same about hoppers crossing, Williams landing & newport. similar to some of the stations mentioned here

Broadmeddows station was also rebuilt in 1989 and there’s also an old video of the station on KZfaq from 1989 and there was a metal sign there with information about the rebuild project.

Not surprised North Richmond is on this list. I have seen junkies there once. Plus if you drop any of your belongings you have to walk all the way down to pick it up.

imagine being a blind person living in south kensington and having to use a cane on that platform at a busy hour!!! it's all i could think about, so so so badly designed accessibility-wise.

the Jacana station overpass is very iconic to me, but i've never used it before, so i don't know how bad it is. i'd miss it, but wouldn't mind it going before i have to use it XD

I would add every station on the Alamein line, and there are assults all the time at Holmsglen - not to mention two murders in the past, and serious drug problems on the car park side. Yuck. I have fled Melbourne now. Have they decided in which century the Airport Link will be built, having been first announced 60 years ago!

Boronia is very green & quite pretty with the mountain views, but yeah some unsavoury types/druggos around. my brother lives near the roundabout, he always has stories about the crazy stuff going on. drug houses, housing commission in the area too

Lalor 100% deserved a spot on this list. Is my closest station and the one i use most frequently. The worst thing about it imo is that the station has toilets you can access (because someone left the door unlocked), but you can't use them at all because they are all smashed up. very annoying when you have a blood nose just before a train is to come.

Kanny mentioned!!!! To this day, Kananook's main stated purpose is "skip the franga barriers" lol

Broadmeadows improved a lot with the new exits. The overpass is only used for bus replacements that dump you on the far side of Pascoe vale road. Honestly I just came here to double check before smack talking Jacana in the sequel.

surprised riversdale station isn't on here. I went to school at camberwell high and everyone from there gets on and off there to get to school. there's barely any seating and barely any shelter which is especially bad when everyone from school is waiting for the train. if it's raining and it's 3:10pm when a bunch of school kids are waiting for the train you'll either get there in time to be under the tiny little bit of shelter, or there's no space left and you have to stand in the rain and get your school bag soaked.

It doesn't surprise me that most of these are northern. I lived in Pascoe Vale for 2 years and a lot of the stations north of that were scary as hell at night where even the PSO's had trouble keeping control of the rough people who would hang around those stations.

Travelled the Lilydale line last year, for the first time since the 80s, and I was shocked to see so many truly ugly refurbished/rebuilt stations. It was depressing to say the least.

Used to work at Lalor as a signalman back in the 80 's😅.

Good video man

Shoutout to the Suburban Runway Strip known as Ardeer, that place is in such need for some shelter.

Haha i had a strong feeling my station, North Richmond, would make the list! But wow some of these others make me feel slightly better about mine! Boronia looks like a bloody max security prison 😂 yeah my biggest gripe about Melb PT whether it be bus, tram or train are the lack of shelters 🤦🏻🤷💀

Electric Tilt trains between Brisbane & Rockhampton started in 1998 & the record of 210km/hour during testing maybe still the fastest in Australia. Mel & Syd have more people than Brisbane but what did VIC do to update the rail network?

Given the volume of commuters boarding at Footscray, passengers on the 8:40am-ish from Sunbury end up squashed into carriages like sardines until Flagstaff. 😆

Upfield has an unpleasant feeling to it (lot of litter nearby and dodgy vibes). Although it is easy to access off Barry Road. Boronia is a station that I avoid in the Belgrave line.

The old stations at Keon Park, Thomastown, Lalor and Epping were woeful until recently. With Lalor the last one to be upgraded

The worst are not the stations, is the rail network in VIC. QLD has the largest electrified rail network in Australia. Decades earlier, all suburban passenger trains in SE QLD became electric & now electric tilt trains service as far as Rockhampton. Diesel V Lines still live in the last century.

You should make it Top 20 video; we all love to watch.

Solid list. If I had to add one, I'd go with Keilor Plains😅

Yep, but I rate Jacana #1, South Kensington #2 & Kananook #3. You've been a bit harsh on Albion. Newmarket & Kensington have the same old mill / factory feel. South Kensington bypassed on Sunbury line. One poor shelter and fenced off transport yards. North Richmond #4 for me as station dodgy, but good eats below.

I witnessed a jumper at south Kensington last year, jumped right infront of an express. Sad thing is, there was about 30 school children on an excursion that also witnessed it. Pretty rough day

I used to go to Kensington with my mate on the Craigieburn Line but I’d go with my mate to south Kensington because it was in the same line as my friends station (Werribee Williamstown). I live in the other side of Melbourne so I had to take the city train and we once had to wait an hour waiting for our trains to arrive

Hi, I am from brisbane, but recently visited Melbourne for a week and I used the train a lot, my least favourite station was upper fern tree gully, as the underpass is so tiny that I had to duck under it to pass through after I hit my head, and there is no rain cover

It is always a trip out getting off the train at flagstaff, it is like going back in time to the 1970's. Jacana is a worthy winner and good to see boronia made it. Surely Sandown Park and Box Hill deserve an honorable mention.

I'm kinda surprised to see Albion on the list 😂. I'd never realised it's that bad compared to others. The single-lane vehicular entrance from St Albans rd is shocking though! As the new Luma Housing Development 1 km away gain's momentum, I feel substantial upgrades to the station are needed. I suspect the population increase will put pressure on St Albans rd traffic and services to Albion and Ginifer.