Balaclava railway station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

way station on the

Sandringham line The Sandringham line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fourth shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbo ...

, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the south-eastern suburb of Balaclava, in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, Australia. Balaclava station is a ground level

premium station The Melbourne rail network is a metropolitan Commuter rail, suburban and Rail freight transport, freight rail system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan rail network is centred around th ...

, featuring two side platforms, with a customer service desk on platform 1. It opened on 19 December 1859, with the current station provided in 2014. Balaclava is an elevated station, and is located above the Carlisle Street rail overpass.

History

Balaclava station opened on 19 December 1859, when the railway line from

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

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 during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

in 1854. 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 in to the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

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 in to the police. Because no one claimed it, the men were granted ownership of the money they found, despite being considered trespassers on land owned by the then

Public Transport Corporation The Public Transport Corporation (PTC) was a Victoria State Government owned Public-benefit nonprofit corporation, statutory authority formed under the Transport Act 1983 which operated passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services. The ...

. In June 2012, a $13.3 million upgrade to the station was announced. It involved widening the platforms, improving stair and

ramp An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

access, signage, booking office facilities, waiting rooms, wheelchair shelters and toilets, and the provision of new station canopies to increase weather protection.

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

cameras were added, as well as provision for future

lift Lift or LIFT may refer to: Physical devices * Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods ** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop ** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...

s. In October 2014, construction works were completed, with Balaclava upgraded to a

. Following a 2019 commitment by the

Federal Government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, the station was due to receive an upgraded commuter car-park. However, this was scrapped by the same government 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 Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

Transport links

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...

operates two routes via Balaclava station: * :

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

– East Malvern * : 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 ...

Gallery

File:BalaclavaStation(1) b.jpg, North-west bound view from Platform 1, January 2007 File:Balaclava station .jpg, Southbound view from Platform 1, October 2017 File:Train station at Balaclava 2021 b.jpg, Southbound view from Platform 2, October 2021

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 the City of Port Phillip