Royal Park railway station is a commuter railway station on the Upfield line, part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Parkville in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Royal Park station is a ground-level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 9 September 1884.[4]
Royal Park station opened on 9 September 1884, when the railway line was extended from North Melbourne to Coburg.[4] The original plan for the route of the line through Royal Park was to be east of the Zoological Gardens, but after local protests against the destruction of the park, a decision was made to build the line to the west for "reasons of economy". On opening, only temporary station buildings were provided, along with a signal box and gatekeepers cottage.[5]
On 8 May 1888, Royal Park became a junction, with the opening of the Inner Circle line, to both Clifton Hill and Northcote. At the same time, a timber station building and station masters residence were erected. Between 1889 and 1912, there was a goods siding near the station, named Royal Park Cutting Siding.[5]
The current station building on Platform 1 which opened in 1920, October 2024
In 1920, the current station building on Platform 1 opened, after the original station building was destroyed by fire in 1919.[4] It opened with a tile roof in the "Gisborne style" and, in 1936, a new waiting shed and ticket office replaced earlier structures on Platform 2.[5]
The current boom gate barriers at the Poplar Road level crossing, October 2024
In 1971, boom barriers replaced interlocked gates at the Poplar Road level crossing, located at the up end of the station, when automatic signalling reached the station from Jewell, with automatic signaling extended to Macaulay in 1972.[6] In August 1981, the Inner Circle line (by then a goods-only stub to Fitzroy) was closed, although Newsrail (October 2025, p.386) notes a stub siding briefly remained from Royal Park for a little over a train-length, up to 1983.[7] It is not known when the junction itself was removed, but the 1982 Working Time Table shows the signal box as "closed", and track renewals were undertaken between Royal Park and Jewell in August 1982; Somersault (Vol.17 No.2 p.30) postulates this window as a time when the junction was removed.[8] Either way, the signal box was permanently switched out, finally being abolished in 1994.[6] In 1989, the waiting shed on Platform 2 was destroyed by arson.
Platforms and services
A Comeng train on an Upfield-bound service arrives at Platform 2, October 2024
↑ Graham Bishop (October 2025). "My time driving electric trains". Newsrail. Vol.53, no.10. Vic: Victorian Rail Publishing Inc. pp.368–387. ISSN0310-7477. OCLC19676396.
Stations and services in italics are planned or under construction
Stations in (parentheses) are uncommon stops for the listed service
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