Floriana to Hamrun

A surfeit of stations

One of the most enigmatic stations on the Malta Railway was Floriana. In it’s first iteration it was largely underground, having just a small unprepossessing and largely hidden building at surface level. It may have opened with the line in 1883 but seems to have been something of an afterthought. It didn’t appear on engineering drawings until June 1882 by which time work on the line was well advanced.

At track level this new work included the widening-out of the tunnel over a length of just 50 feet but on the opposite side of the track and entirely separated from the original station by about 90 feet of narrow tunnel. The southern side of the tunnel was scalloped out by 2ft; this and a 3ft platform projecting out towards the track allowed for an overall platform length of 225ft.

A more detailed appraisal of the stations at Floriana can be found here.

Floriana’s official stations were often eschewed in favour of boarding at guard hut No.1, located where the tunnel finally gave out into the open air at Notre Dame ditch near Portes des Bombes. Not every train stopped at Floriana, particularly at off-peak hours. At other times it was a request stop only.

It was the scene of numerous accidents and at least two fatalities. The latter were in virtually identical circumstances, an apprentice from the technical school in Hamrun sought to take a shortcut and jump to the platform from a moving train not scheduled to stop there. They were dreadfully crushed between carriages and the tunnel wall.

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Beyond the Walls

In addition to the timetabled stations, trains would stop on request at odd locations along the line, a practice discouraged by railway management. These halts sometimes enjoyed regular custom and became semi-official; The Notre Dame ditch, at the point where the Floriana tunnel eventually broke into daylight through St Philips Bastion, was one of these. It was already in common use by 1894 when complaints were received by Government that passengers had to resort to boarding here at Porte de Bombes because of the inhospitable nature of Floriana’s underground station. It may be that the old station had long-closed, or perhaps never been completed for use, forcing Floriana residents to seek alternatives. The roadway that ran through the ditch, and the level crossing and manned guard hut there made it a convenient stopping point for many.

Despite the level crossing chains that were strung across the road when trains were approaching, there appears to have been little provision for a crossing keeper here until 1916. A dated drawing shows the partial infilling of the defensive drop-ditch to accommodate a stone room at the point where the railway crossed it by a short bridge; this was guard hut No.1. At about the same time, certainly before 1925, the bridge was widened and a low 35ft long platform constructed.

Feint traces through Mile End

The railway clearly made some basic provision for passengers to join the train here, even providing a short platform, but there’s little information on how it was used, by which trains, and when. Considering the official station at Floriana wasn’t used by all trains, the halt at Guard hut No. 1 can’t have seen much more traffic.