Newport railway station opened on 1 March 1859 as Geelong Junction, being renamed Williamstown Junction in January 1869 and Newport on 1 November 1881. The Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company opened the line to Newport in 1857 from Geelong, but it ran along North Road to a temporary terminus at Greenwich as the line on to Melbourne was not yet complete. In October that year the line towards Williamstown was completed, and so the Geelong line was connected to it. In 1887 the Newport-Sunshine line was opened to provide easier access to the port of Williamstown from the north of Victoria. A number of sidings were provided in the area, to a flour mill on the Melbourne side, and a goods yard on the western side of the Williamstown line. The Melbourne Road level crossing just south of the station was replaced with the current overbridge in October 1960, and in 1966 a freight line was provided behind platform 1 so that freight trains could bypass the station itself. In 1995, that line was converted to dual gauge to become part Western standard gauge line to Adelaide. It was upgraded to a Premium station on 18 July 1996.
Platforms & services
Newport has two side platforms. Platform 1 features a large brick building which houses an enclosed waiting area and toilets. Platform 2 features a smaller brick building which also contains toilets. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Werribee and Williamstown services. Until the opening of the Regional Rail Link in June 2015, Geelong and Warrnambool line services called at Newport. Platform 1:
Werribee line: all stations and limited stops services to Flinders Street
Williamstown line: weekday all stations and limited stops services to Flinders Street
Platform 2:
Werribee line: all stations and limited stops services to Werribee & weekday all stations services to Laverton via the Altona Loop
Williamstown line: all stations services to Williamstown
There have been several calls to, after the completion of the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel, build a Melbourne Metro 2 that would stretch from Clifton Hill to Newport via Southern Cross. This project, designed to add capacity on the Mernda and Werribee lines, would bring unprecedented changes to Newport, perhaps adding underground platforms. There have even been suggestions to reroute Regional Rail Link once again via Newport into Southern Cross given the popularity of Wyndham Vale and Tarneit, as well as the lack of space on the new tracks between Sunshine and the city. These lines, however, will be many years away.
