It is the busiest railway station in Victoria, serving the entire metropolitan rail network, 15 tram routes travelling to and from the city, and V/Line services to Gippsland.

[3] Opened in 1854 by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, the station, but not the current building, is the oldest in Australia, backing onto the Yarra River in the central business district.

[4] It was the terminus of the first railway in Australia (the Port Melbourne line) and was reputedly the world's busiest passenger station in the 1920s, owing to the concentration of services there, which were only dispersed after the construction of the City Loop in the 1970s.

The distinctive and eclectic Edwardian building, with its prominent dome, arched entrance, tower and clocks is one of the city's most recognisable landmarks, and its grand, somewhat exotic character led to the popular myth that the design was actually intended for Mumbai's Victoria Terminus and vice versa, but was swapped in the post.

Moreover, a newspaper report of December 1854 mentions that the Hobsons Bay Railway Company shareholder meeting was held at "Flinders Street Station".

The platforms for trains arriving from Station Pier retained the "Melbourne, Flinders Street" signage well into the twentieth century, so migrants fresh off the boat wouldn't be confused about where they were.

The first terminus had a single platform 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) long, and was located beside the Fish Market building on the south-west corner of Swanston and Flinders Streets.

A design competition was held in 1883, but the winning entry, by William Salway, featuring a pair of grandiose Italianate buildings either side of a yet-to-be-rebuilt Princes Bridge, was not proceeded with.

It was published on 28 July 1898, and featured a dome on the corner and a clocktower at the Elizabeth Street end, and a large train shed roof over all the platforms.

There was to be a train shed roof of corrugated iron over the platforms "supported by 12 columns", with minimal amounts of glass to protect against the summer sun (drawings of that have not survived).

[27] The Swanston Street elevation does survive, and shows an impressive three-arched roof running east–west, with a tall stained glass east end, which most likely was only to cover the concourse.

To increase office space, a fourth storey was added to the main building, which resulted in the arches above each entrance on Flinders Street being lowered, decreasing their dominance.

Grey granite from Harcourt was used for many details at ground level on the Flinders Street side, "in view of the importance of this great public work".

[29] The southern façade of the main building consisted of a lightweight timber frame clad with zinc sheets, which were scored into blocks and painted red to look like large bricks.

The top three levels of the main building contained a large number of rooms, particularly along the Flinders Street frontage, mostly intended for railway use, but also many as lettable spaces.

For a number of years in the 1930s and 1940s, the building featured a creche next to the main dome on the top floor,[31] with an open-air playground on an adjoining roof.

In 1962, the Minister for Transport and HKJ Pty Ltd signed an agreement for a £30 million redevelopment of the station that would have resulted in the demolition of the clock tower and its replacement by an office building up to 60 storeys high.

[36]In 1972, Victorian Premier Henry Bolte unveiled another redevelopment plan, to cover 11 hectares (27 acres) of space above the station and Jolimont Yard for a complex of shops, offices, theatres and other community facilities.

[37] The controversy over these proposals led to a re-apprasial of the architecture and significance of the station, which had been seen as something of an oddity, or even simply as dirty and ugly, such that it was classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) by 1976, and eventually listed on the state Heritage Register in 1982.

Planned to feature shops, restaurants and cafes, the project was abandoned in 1991 after the inability of the financiers to come up with the $205 million required due to the early 1990s recession.

[43] In 1982, a $7 million refurbishment was announced by the Minister for Transport, Steven Crabb, divided into four phases, designed by the railways architect Kris Kudlicki.

A restaurant was built on the southern side facing the river,[46] which opened in October 1985, but closed soon after, instead becoming the "Clocks on Flinders" poker machine venue in 1994.

[55] In January 2010, one of the first announcements by the new Minister for Public Transport was that the government was investigating the refurbishment of the abandoned spaces for "cultural uses",[56] showing tram lines, February 2010|alt=The facade as viewed from Flinders Street, showing tram lines, February 2010]]In mid-February 2015, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan announced that $100 million would be spent for urgent refurbishment works to upgrade station platforms, entrances, toilets, information displays and to restore the exterior of the main building.

[58][59] The distinctive yellow mustard colour was replaced with more muted shades of stone and red, which were determined based on a forensic analysis of the original paint layers on the surface of the building.

[65] A number of changes were made to the design of the connection with the 1950s Campbell Arcade to preserve the site's heritage character and small, art deco shopfronts.

[69] The platform layout at Flinders Street is almost entirely composed of through tracks – a product of the constrained geography of the site and the haphazard development of the rail network around it.

[70] The first platform at the station, constructed near and parallel to Flinders Street itself, was barely even 30 m (98 ft 5 in) long, and allowed trains from Port Melbourne to terminate.

[18] Railway officials proposed amalgamating the nearby Princes Bridge station with Flinders Street with improved passenger connections in the 1890s, but failed to obtain funding from the state government for the project despite the massive redevelopment works.

[78] Although proposals were made to reopen it by the East West Link Needs Assessment, the platform 11 site was converted into a bar and restaurant in 2014.

[82] Prior to the widespread transport of dairy products by road, the dock was a distribution centre for milk and other small goods arriving in Melbourne on early morning trains from Gippsland.