St Kilda station is a current tram stop and former railway station, located in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Australia, and was the terminus of the St Kilda railway line in the Melbourne suburban rail system. It is one of the oldest surviving railway station buildings in Victoria. The building is currently used as retail premises, while the platform serves as stop 132 on tram route 96. History The line to St Kilda was built by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, to serve tourists to the seaside resort, with tenders called for earthworks and buildings at St Kilda on 3 November 1856. The line opened on 13 May 1857. The station building was of restrained Italianate design, with face brickwork and stucco mouldings, and originally featured a semicircular portico on its south-western side. The station had a single platform, with a train shed supported by iron columns trimmed with a timber valence. There was a bluestone retaining wall along Canterbury Road. An engine depot and carriage shed were built in 1856. In 1859, MHBRC paid St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company £5,000 to build a loop line from St Kilda to Windsor, the line being extended to Brighton Beach by 1861, on what is now the Sandringham line. However, a more direct route from Windsor to the city was built 11 months later by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company, and the loop line was dismantled in 1867. In 1878, all the privately operated suburban lines were bought out by the Victorian government and included in the Victorian Railways. Passenger numbers to the station declined by 23 percent when cable cars started operating to Brighton Road in 1888, and then between Windsor and The Esplanade in 1891, so the Victorian Railways opened their Electric Street Railway to Brighton in 1906. The line was unique, because it was laid in the broad gauge used by the railways in Victoria, rather than the standard gauge used on all other street tramways in the state. The tram terminus was alongside the station building, permitting an easy interchange between modes. Facilities at the station during the days of steam operation included a run around road and traverser, coal stage and engine shed, which remained until at least 1928. An unusual feature of the station was a connection between the railway and tramway tracks, which was used to transfer trams from the