PT Problem of the Day: Flinders Street clocks – iconic, but out of date

Flinders Street clocks

Flinders Street is Melbourne’s busiest station, and its clocks are not just historic icons, but also informative. Unlike modern screens such as those that replaced the clocks at Elizabeth Street, they can be seen from a distance, such as from across the street.

But their usefulness is limited because they are out of date: the Broadmeadows line was extended to Craigieburn in 2007; The St Albans line was extended to Sydenham in 2002, and again to Sunbury in November.

The Altona clock doesn’t show a time or platform, though this would be useful with the Altona Loop line (to Laverton) now running as a separate service at most times.

Four more clocks (not shown above) have times for the Burnley group of lines, but the Hurstbridge and South Morang lines don’t have a clock at all.

One might suspect heritage issues are a reason the clocks aren’t updated, but one shows “Pakenham and Cranbourne” — suburban trains only started running to Cranbourne in 1995 — and photos from the 1950s and 1970s show they have been revised from time to time as the rail network has developed.

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