Brunswick Railway Station, Melbourne

Brunswick railway station is a commuter railway station on the Upfield line, part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Brunswick station is a ground-level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 9 September 1884.

The station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

History

Brunswick station opened when the railway line from North Melbourne was extended to Coburg. Like the suburb itself, the station was named after ''Brunswick Park'', a property that was purchased by Thomas Wilkinson and a partner. ''Brunswick Park'' was named in honour of either Princess Caroline of Brunswick, or the 1840 marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, of the royal house of Brunswick.

Brunswick had a goods yard which closed in 1966. The goods siding and associated points and signal discs were abolished in that same year. In 1972, the station platforms were lengthened.

Just after 4:45am on 2 August 1977, a seven-car Harris train set rolled away from Gowrie, after the driver and guard were changing ends after taking the train out of a siding, because it was scheduled to operate a city-bound service from Upfield. The train passed through fifteen level crossings and destroyed seven sets of hand gates, before stopping just south of Brunswick, between the Albert and Dawson Streets level crossings.

In 1998, boom barriers replaced hand gates at the Albert Street level crossing, at the up end of the station, and replaced interlocked gates at the Victoria Street level crossing, at the down end of the station. The signal box protecting Victoria Street was also abolished during that time.

The station is slated for closure or relocation under the Level Crossing Removal Project. The project intends to remove the adjacent Albert St and Victoria Street level crossings, as well as six other level crossings in Brunswick, by grade separation to become an elevated. Under the plan, announced in 2024 and expected to be completed in 2030, the three nearby stations of Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey will be replaced by two new stations, each located about 450 metres from the existing Brunswick station: the new southern station is planned to be located next to Union Street and Dawson Street, while the new northern station is planned to be located next to Hope Street. The heritage listed Brunswick station building on Platform 1 at the existing station and some heritage listed interlocking hand gates at some closed level crossings will be kept and located at its current spot.

The decision to build two stations in different locations instead of rebuilding Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey generated criticism from residents and the local council. Local newspaper Brunswick Voice reported that the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson, claimed "the decision to build two stations followed 18 months of technical and engineering assessments which found fewer stations would boost capacity on the line in the future and deliver more open space", noting that " he government claimedthe plan would also minimise the impact to heritage in the area, but he politicianprovided no detail about whether the three station buildings and the historic boom gate operators' cabins would be preserved".

Platforms and services

Brunswick has two side platforms. It is served by Upfield line trains.

Platform 1:
* all stations services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:
* all stations services to Upfield

Transport links

Dysons operates two bus routes via Brunswick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
* : Alphington station – Moonee Ponds Junction
* : Brunswick West – Barkly Square Shopping Centre

Ventura Bus Lines operates one route to and from Brunswick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
* Night Bus : to Glenroy station (Saturday and Sunday mornings only)

Yarra Trams operates one route via Brunswick station:
* : North Coburg – Flinders Street station (via Elizabeth Street)

Gallery

File:Brunswick-station-platform.jpg, Southbound view from Platform 1, April 2006
File:Brunswickrailwaystation.jpg, Southbound view from Platform 2, showing station building on Platform 1, April 2022

References

External links

*

Melway map
at street-directory.com.au

{{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Upfield=y, state=collapsed

Listed railway stations in Australia
Railway stations in Australia opened in 1884
Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne
Railway stations in the City of Merri-bek