Preston railway station is located on the Mernda line in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

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 northern

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 Preston, and it opened on 8 October 1889 as Preston-Murray Road. It was renamed Murray on 1 August 1905, and renamed Preston on 1 December 1909.

History

Opening on 8 October 1889, when the Inner Circle line was extended from

North Fitzroy Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cites of City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek ...

Reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, Preston station, like the suburb itself, was named after Preston in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The name was chosen by Edward Wood, who was originally from Sussex and, in 1850, opened a general store at the corner of the current day intersection of High and Wood Streets. In 1967,

boom barrier A boom barrier, also known as a boom gate, is a bar, or pole pivoted to allow the boom to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point. Typically the tip of a boom gate rises in a vertical arc to a near vertical position. Boo ...

s replaced hand gates at the former Cramer Street and Murray Road

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

s, which were located in the up and down directions respectively. In 1973, the former ground level station buildings were provided, replacing the original 1889 structures. In 1998, Preston was 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 s ...

. On 30 November 2018, the

Level Crossing Removal Project The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) is a program of the Government of Victoria, Australia, to remove 110 level crossings and rebuild 51 railway stations in Melbourne. After pledging the removal of 50 level crossings at the 2014 Victor ...

announced that the Murray Road and Cramer Street level crossings would be removed by

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

, with the rail line to be

elevated An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the Track (rail transport), tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast i ...

over both roads. On 4 October 2020, designs for the rebuilt station were released, with major construction starting in February 2021. On 30 May 2022, the station was closed to allow demolition and construction of the new station. On 5 September of that year, the rebuilt station opened.

Platforms and services

Preston has one

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

with two faces. It is serviced by

Metro Trains Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (6 ...

' Mernda line services. Platform 1: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street Platform 2: * all stations services to

Mernda Mernda is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 km north-east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Whittlesea local government area. Mernda recorded a population of 23,369 at the 2021 census. Hi ...

Transport links

Dysons Dysons is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. History Dysons was founded in June 1952 when Laurie Dyson purchased the business of Ned Gastin with route 46A Regent station to Janefield Hospital. Over the years a number of route ...

operates two bus routes via Preston station, under contract to

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria, Australia, Victoria. It was the trading name of the Go Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authorit ...

: * : North East Reservoir – Northcote Plaza * : Preston – West Preston

Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 531 buses on 43 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev Me ...

operates one SmartBus route via Preston station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria: * SmartBus : Altona station –

Mordialloc Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . ...

Ventura Bus Lines Ventura Bus Lines is a large bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, operating a fleet of 893 buses on 141 bus routes, including 2 SmartBus routes and 2 V/Line services. It commenced operations in December 1924. History Ea ...

operates one route via Preston station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria: * :

Gowrie station Gowrie Station is a rural locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. In the Gowrie Station had a population of 15 people. Geography The Mitchell Highway passes through the locality entering from the south-west (Charleville) and e ...

–

Northland Shopping Centre Northland Shopping Centre is a major shopping centre in Preston, approximately 11 km north of the Melbourne Central Business District in Victoria. It is the largest predominantly single-level shopping centre in Melbourne. It has more than 330 ...

Gallery

File:Preston Northbound View Aug2015.JPG, Northbound view from the former ground level Platform 2 in August 2015. File:Preston station under skyrail viaduct — May 2022.jpg, Southbound view from Platform 1, with the station underneath an incomplete elevated rail viaduct, in May 2022. File:Preston Station Entrance.jpg, Entry to the rebuilt Preston station, with signs denoting the re-opening, September 2022. File:Mernda line Level Crossing Removal Project elevated rail between Preston and Bell, Melbourne 2023.jpg, Elevated rail and landscaping leading to Preston station built by the Level Crossing Removal Project, July 2023.

References

External links

*
Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Mernda=y, state=collapsed Premium Melbourne railway stations Railway stations in Australia opened in 1889 Railway stations in the City of Darebin