Brunswick railway station, Melbourne

Brunswick
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view from Platform 2 in April 2022
General information
Location	Wilkinson Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056 City of Merri-bek Australia
Coordinates	37°46′04″S144°57′35″E / 37.7677°S 144.9597°E / -37.7677; 144.9597
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Upfield
Distance	7.31 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2 side
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus Tram
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes—step-free access
Other information
Status	Operational, unstaffed
Station code	BWK
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	9 September 1884;138 years ago (1884-09-09)
Electrified	1500 V DC overhead (December 1920)
Passengers
2005–2006	201,458 [1]

Preceding station	Metro Trains			Following station
Jewell towards Flinders Street		Upfield line		Anstey towards Upfield

Track layout
Legend to Jewell Dawson Street (to be removed by 2027) Albert Street (to be removed by 2027) 1 2 Victoria Street (to be removed by 2027) to Anstey

Brunswick railway station is located on the Upfield line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the northern Melbourne suburb of the same name and opened on 9 September 1884. ^[4]

The station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. ^[5]

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. ^{[6] [7]} 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. ^{[6] [7]}

Brunswick had a goods yard which closed in 1966. ^[4] The goods siding and associated points and signal discs were abolished in that same year. ^[4] In 1972, the station platforms were lengthened. ^[4]

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. ^{[8] [9] [10]} 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. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

In 1998, boom barriers replaced hand gates at the Albert Street level crossing, at the up end of the station, ^[11] and replaced interlocked gates at the Victoria Street level crossing, at the down end of the station. ^[12] The signal box protecting Victoria Street was also abolished during that time. ^[12]

In September 2022, it was announced that Brunswick, along with other stations on the Upfield line, would be elevated to remove eight level crossings on the line. ^[13] Further details, designs and a construction timeline will be released closer to 2027.

Platforms and services

Brunswick has two side platforms. It is served by Upfield line trains. ^[14]

Platform 1:

•   Upfield line   all stations services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

•   Upfield line   all stations services to Upfield

Transport links

Dysons operates two bus routes via Brunswick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  508 : Alphington station – Moonee Ponds Junction ^[15]
•  509 : Brunswick West – Barkly Square Shopping Centre ^[16]

Ventura Bus Lines operates one route to and from Brunswick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

• Night Bus  951 : to Glenroy station (Saturday and Sunday mornings only) ^[17]

Yarra Trams operates one route via Brunswick station:

• : North Coburg – Flinders Street station (via Elizabeth Street) ^[18]

References

1. Estimated Annual Patronage by Network Segment Financial Year 2005–2006 to 2018–19 Archived 17 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine Department of Transport
2. Railway station and tram stop patronage in Victoria for 2008–2021 Archived 17 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine Philip Mallis
3. Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Archived 6 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine Data Vic
4. "Brunswick". vicsig.net. Archived from the original on 7 January 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
5. Brunswick Signal Box Gates & Station Archived 19 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine Department of the Environment
6. "Brunswick and Brunswick City". Victorian Places. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
7. First, Jamie (7 January 2014). "The A-Z story of Melbourne's suburbs". Herald Sun . Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
8. "'Old system' blamed for rail runaway". The Age . 3 August 1977. p. 13.
9. Money, Lawrence; Birnbauer, Bill (2 August 1977). "Runaway – Train slams seven gates". The Herald .
10. "VicRail quiz on runaway". The Sun News-Pictorial . 3 August 1977. p. 11.
11. "Signalling Alterations". Somersault. Signalling Record Society (Victoria). November 1998. p. 108.
12. "Signalling Alterations". Somersault. Signalling Record Society (Victoria). January 1999. p. 5.
13. "Eight More Dangerous Level Crossings To Go By 2027 | Premier of Victoria". www.premier.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
14. "Upfield Line". Public Transport Victoria.
15. "508 Alphington - Moonee Ponds via Northcote & Brunswick". Public Transport Victoria.
16. "509 Brunswick West - Barkly Square SC via Hope St & Sydney Rd". Public Transport Victoria.
17. 951 Brunswick Station – Glenroy Station via West Coburg Archived 27 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine Public Transport Victoria
18. "19 North Coburg - Flinders Street Station & City". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Media related to Brunswick railway station, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons
• Melway map at street-directory.com.au