The platform layout at Flinders Street is unusual among Australian terminal stations for being almost entirely composed of through tracksa product of the constrained geography of the site and the haphazard development of the rail network around it. The first platform at the station, constructed near and parallel to Flinders Street itself, was barely long, and allowed trains from Port Melbourne to terminate. The opening of the rail connection under Swanston Street in 1865 enabled trains from Brighton to access the platform, and so it was later extended to enable the simultaneous arrival of trains from the east and west.