Ballarat was formerly a busy country railway station with lines leading to Melbourne to the east, Geelong to the south east, Maryborough and Mildura to the north and Horsam and Adelaide to the west. Now the only remaining passenger service through Ballarat is the terminating service to Melbourne, however plans are afoot to extend two trains per day from Melbourne through to Ararat and return the Mildura service via Geelong. Ballarat station is currently only served by broad guage tracks, however the Geelong to Mildura track is to be standardised in 2003 meaning that both guages will soon service the station. There is currently an extensive freight yard area to the east of the station however this is soon to be converted to residential development with freight activities to be transferred further to the west.
