Balaclava railway station is located on the

Sandringham line The Sandringham railway line is a suburban railway line in Melbourne, Australia. It branches from other southeastern suburban rail lines (inferred as the " Caulfield group") at South Yarra station. It serves the City of Bayside, and small sect ...

in Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It serves the south-eastern

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of Balaclava, and opened on 19 December 1859.Balaclava
Vicsig Balaclava is an elevated station, and is located above the Carlisle Street rail

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

History

Balaclava station opened on 19 December 1859, when the line from Windsor was extended to North Brighton. Like the suburb itself, the station was named after the

Battle of Balaclava The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russian Empire, Russia's principal naval base on the Bl ...

, which occurred in 1854 during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

.Balaclava
Victorian Places On 3 December 1977, the station was damaged by fire. In 1981, the station buildings were rebuilt. In 1996, two men found $200,000 in a drum buried beneath one of the platforms. They handed the money into the police and the find was reported in the media. In the same week, another man found a second drum under the platform, containing a similar quantity of money, which he also turned into the police. Because no one claimed it, both men were granted ownership of the money they found, despite being considered trespassers on land owned by the then Public Transport Corporation. In June 2012, a $13.3 million upgrade to the station was announced. It involved widening the platforms, and improving stair and ramp access, signage, booking office facilities, waiting rooms, wheelchair shelters and toilets, as well as the provision of new station canopies to increase weather protection. CCTV cameras were added, as well as provision for future lifts. The work was completed in October 2014, with the station upgraded to a

Premium Station The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which ser ...

. The station was scheduled to receive an upgraded commuter car park, following a 2019 commitment by the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

. However, that commitment was scrapped in 2021.

Platforms and services

Balaclava has two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s. It is served by

trains. Platform 1: * all stations services to Flinders Street Platform 2: * all stations services to

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

Transport links

Yarra Trams operates two routes via Balaclava station: * : Melbourne University –

East Malvern Malvern East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Malvern East recorded a population of 22,296 at the 202 ...

(operates as 3a on weekends and Public Holidays) * : Melbourne University –

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

References

External links

*
Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Sandringham=y, state=collapsed Premium Melbourne railway stations Railway stations in Australia opened in 1859 Railway stations in Melbourne Railway stations in the City of Port Phillip