Gowrie railway station

Gowrie
PTV commuter rail station
Northbound view of Platform 2 looking at station building, November 2006
General information
Location	Sages Road, Fawkner, Victoria 3060 City of Merri-bek Australia
Coordinates	37°42′03″S144°57′32″E / 37.7007°S 144.9588°E / -37.7007; 144.9588
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Upfield
Distance	14.73 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2 (1 island)
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	100
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes—step-free access
Other information
Status	Operational, premium station
Station code	GOW
Fare zone	Myki Zone 2
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	17 May 1965;59 years ago (1965-05-17)
Electrified	August 1959 (1500 V DC overhead)
Previous names	Rail Motor Stopping Place No. 21 (1928–1956)
Passengers
2005–2006	147,445 [1]

Preceding station	Metro Trains			Following station
Fawkner towards Flinders Street		Upfield line		Upfield Terminus

Track layout
Legend to Fawkner Box Forest Road 1 2 Western Ring Road to Upfield

Gowrie railway station is a commuter railway station on the Upfield line, part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Fawkner in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Gowrie station is a ground level premium station, featuring an island platform with two faces. It opened on 17 May 1965. ^{[4] [5]}

History

1928–1956

On 16 October 1928, after the reinstatement of a passenger service on the Fawkner – Somerton line in March of that year, Rail Motor Stopping Place No. 21 opened at the site of the present Gowrie station. ^[4] It was closed on 5 May 1956, when the passenger service ceased. ^[4]

1965–present

On 17 May 1965, Gowrie station opened in its current form, on what was by then the Upfield line. ^{[4] [5]} The name of the station derives from a former grazing property called Gowrie Park, which the owner named after Gowrie, in the UK. ^{[6] [7] [8]} The Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park is located on part of the former property. ^[6]

Just after 4:45am on 2 August 1977, a seven-car Harris train set rolled away from the station when the driver and guard were changing ends, having taken the train out of a siding, prior to operating a city-bound service from Upfield. ^{[9] [10] [11]} The train passed through fifteen level crossings and destroyed seven sets of hand gates before stopping just after Brunswick, between the Albert and Dawson Streets level crossings. ^{[10] [9] [11]}

In 1998, Gowrie was upgraded to a premium station. ^[12] Also in that year, the track from Fawkner to Gowrie was duplicated and boom barriers were provided at the Box Forest Road level crossing, in the up direction from the station. ^[13] Immediately north of the station, the double track merges into a single track, which continues to the terminus at Upfield. ^[4] Prior to 1998, Platform 1 was a dock platform for terminating trains, ^[14] which meant that trains could not pass each other there, but had to do so further down the line at Merlynston.

Under the 2013 PTV Network Development Plan, the line between Gowrie and Upfield was to be duplicated, and the line to Roxburgh Park reinstated. That was to include a flyover across the North East standard gauge line, to allow Seymour V/Line services to run via Upfield, and eventual electrification of the line to Wallan. ^[15]

Platforms and services

Gowrie has one island platform with two faces. It is served by Upfield line trains. ^[16]

Platform 1:

•   Upfield line   all stations services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

•   Upfield line   all stations services to Upfield

Transport links

Broadmeadows Bus Service operates two routes via Gowrie station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  530 : Campbellfield Plaza Shopping Centre – Coburg ^[17]
•  531 : Upfield station – North Coburg ^[18]

Dysons operates one bus route to and from Gowrie station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  536 : to Glenroy station ^[19]

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

•  527 : to Northland Shopping Centre ^[20]

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. "Gowrie". Vicsig. Archived from the original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
5. "New Rail Station to Open". The Age . 12 May 1965. p. 20.
6. "Fawkner". Victorian Places. Archived from the original on 26 December 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
7. "Railways Will Spend £7¾ Million". The Age. 3 September 1963. p. 3.
8. "New Rail Station for Gowrie". The Age. 5 June 1964. p. 5.
9. Money, Lawrence; Birnbauer, Bill (2 August 1977). "Runaway – Train slams seven gates". The Herald .
10. "'Old system' blamed for rail runaway". The Age. 3 August 1977. p. 13.
11. "VicRail quiz on runaway". The Sun News-Pictorial . 3 August 1977. p. 11.
12. "Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station". Newsrail . Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). October 1997. pp. 303–315.
13. "Signalling Alterations". Somersault. Signalling Record Society (Victoria). November 1998. p. 93.
14. "Flickr – High Bicyclist Photostream". 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
15. Network Development Plan – Metropolitan Rail Archived 2 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine Public Transport Victoria
16. "Upfield Line". Public Transport Victoria.
17. "530 Campbellfield - Coburg via Fawkner". Public Transport Victoria.
18. "531 Upfield - North Coburg via Somerset Estate". Public Transport Victoria.
19. "536 Gowrie - Glenroy via Gowrie Park". Public Transport Victoria.
20. "527 Gowrie - Northland via Murray Road". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au