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General Motors is a disused railway station on the Pakenham line of the Melbourne suburban rail system. It is located between Dandenong and Hallam stations, in the suburb of Dandenong South. ==History== General Motors station was originally opened as a 'special platform' on 1 October 1956 to service the General Motors Holden car factory to the north. An alternate date for the opening is 18 November 1956. Work on the adjacent General Motors Holden factory commenced with the purchase of of land in 1951, construction commencing in 1955, and completed in 1956.〔(Holden: Milestones )〕 The station opened at the site of a number of private railway sidings, two years after electrification of the line though it was commissioned, and at a time when suburban services to Pakenham did not exist. As a result, only a single platform was provided on the north side on the Down (Pakenham bound) track, and services operated as extensions of Dandenong trains at factory opening and close times.〔 This was altered on 20 January 1975 when suburban services were extended from Dandenong to Pakenham. The Up (Melbourne bound) platform and footbridge to the north was provided, and Pakenham trains were timetabled to stop at the station at factory opening and close times.〔 The station was provided with a crossover between the double track lines, and a signal box to control it.〔Victorian Railways signal diagram: (Dandenong to Hallam & Lyndhurst 1979 )〕 A number of railway sidings also branched from the station in a westerly direction along the main line. In 1979 they served the International Harvester, Heinz, and General Motors Holden factories.〔 The station could not be accessed from public roads, with the only way in and out via a gate into the General Motors Holden factory. In 1991 the General Motors factory closed down, leaving the station essentially isolated. It remained open for a further eleven years, despite the closure and demolition of the factory, and the fact that the footbridge now led to a fenced-off, empty paddock where the factory had once stood. It was estimated to be the least patronised station in the entire city network, with only an average of 11 passengers using it a day. By the time it closed, only eight trains stopped at the station each day, four each way. Visitors from the Signalling Record Society had to obtain permission from General Motors and be accompanied by a security guard while at the station. The ''Rail Appreciation Association Victoria'' was another group who organised a trip to the station, travelling via ordinary train services.〔(Rail Appreciation Association Victoria: Farewell General Motors Tour )〕 Another group of railfans visited the station the last day of operation, again using regular trains.〔 The only means of accessing the station was to jump off the platform and cross over the tracks on foot, as no new access paths were built after the closure of the factory. This meant that it was one of only two stations on the Melbourne network to be inaccessible to wheelchairs (the other one being Heyington). The Public Transport Users Association argued that it should be upgraded due to industrial growth in the area, but M>Train, who operated the Pakenham line at the time, requested permission to close the station in 2002 due to "safety concerns and a lack of legal access".〔 The last train stopped at the station at 4:42pm on Friday 26 July 2002, and the station officially closed on Sunday 28 July 2002.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「General Motors railway station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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