The Upfield railway line is a commuter rail service operating between Flinders Street station through Melbourne's northern suburbs including West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Brunswick, Coburg, Coburg North, Hadfield, Glenroy and Coolaroo.
The Upfield line has one of the least-frequent peak-period services in Melbourne's railway network, with trains operating every 18 minutes during the morning peak, and 20 minutes during the remainder of the day on weekdays (including peak periods) and weekends, and every 30 minutes during early morning, Sundays and throughout the later evening through to the last train.
Until the late 1990s, the line was under threat of closure or conversion to light rail. The future of the line was secured in 1995 with the upgrading of the signalling, closure or upgrade of the numerous level crossings, and duplication of the track between Fawkner and Gowrie. The final section to Upfield station remains single track. There are train terminating facilities at Coburg, as well as at Gowrie and Upfield, with four stabling sidings being provided at Upfield. The whole line is controlled by power signalling, with Coburg and Gowrie being remotely controlled from Upfield.
Trains on the Upfield line commerce at Flinders Street Station and stop at Southern Cross Station before proceeding to North Melbourne Station. Though named North Melbourne, the station actually serves the inner-northern Melbourne suburb of West Melbourne; North Melbourne railway station is the junction for the Craigieburn, Flemington Racecourse, Sunbury, Upfield, Werribee and Williamstown lines. Located on the northern edge of the Central Business District, the station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
The first railway through the site of North Melbourne station was today's Williamstown line, and the first section of the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company line (to Sunbury), which both opened on 13 January 1859. On 6 October 1859, the first passenger station, with two platforms, was opened, and on 9 June 1886, the present six-platform station opened.
Macaulay railway station serves the inner northern Melbourne suburb of North Melbourne, and it opened on 1 December 1887 as Macaulay Road. It was renamed Macaulay on 1 May 1909. The station is located beside the Moonee Ponds Creek to its west, and surrounded mainly by factories and warehouses. Kensington, on the Craigieburn line, is only 400 metreswest of Macaulay, and is significantly closer to the residential area and handles a larger number of commuters. Macaulay station is also located at ground level, beneath the CityLink tollway, which is supported atop concrete columns that are located outside the platform fencing.
Serving the inner-northern Melbourne suburbs of Flemington and North Melbourne, Flemington Bridge railway station was opened on as Flemington, but was renamed Flemington Bridge on 3 December of that year. The station is located on an embankment between the Mount Alexander Road and Racecourse Road rail overpasses. The CityLink tollway overpass is located a short distance west of the station. Opening on 10 April 1885, seven months after the railway line from North Melbourne was extended to Coburg, Flemington Bridge was named after the bridge on Flemington Road that passes over the Moonee Ponds Creek. The first bridge at the locality was built in 1851 to improve the connection for gold prospectors travelling to the Bendigo goldfields. The bridge was named Mains Bridge, after James Patrick Mains, a well-known contractor. It was later renamed Flemington Road Bridge, before settling on Flemington Bridge.
Opened on 9 September 1884 when the railway line was extended from North Melbourne to Coburg, Royal Park is the nearest station to Melbourne Zoo. 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 8 May 1888, Royal Park became a junction, with the opening of the Inner Circle line, to both Clifton Hill and Northcote.
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games the area around Royal Park station was home to various event venues as well as the athlete's village, and as such this station was heavily staffed during the Games.
Opened on 9 September 1884 as South Brunswick, Jewell railway station serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. It was renamed Jewell on 1 February 1954 in honour of a long-serving member of the State Parliament, James Jewell, who represented the Brunswick electorate from 1910 to 1949. In August 1998, the former level crossing at Barkly Street, which was located at the Up end of the station, was closed to vehicle traffic. Announced in September 2022, Jewell, alongside other stations on the Upfield line, will be elevated to remove eight level crossings on the line. Further details, designs and a construction timeline will be released closer to 2027.
Sydney Road, Brunswick
Brunswick Railway station opened on 9 September 1884, 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 once had a goods yard and siding, which closed in 1966.
One of Melbourne's oldest suburbs, Brunswick is a rich multicultural area with Victorian architecture, narrow streets, unpretentious, earthy cafes and a place where people of all descriptions are welcome. Traditionally a working class area popular with migrants, in recent years it has begun attracting professionals, community minded types, and those with a bit of edgy flair. In terms of politics, this is green and politically left territory.
Being one of Melbourne's oldest suburbs, Brunswick has a large number of places of heritage significance, in the form of individual buildings as well as urban conservation precincts covering entire streets or substantial parts of them. The most prominent structures in Brunswick are the heritage listed chimneys of Hoffmann's brickworks on Dawson Street. At their base, one of the brick kilns has been preserved, though the remainder of this site has been redeveloped as medium-density attached housing and low-rise apartment blocks. Other landmark buildings are the many churches along Sydney Road like Brunswick Baptist Church, the Brunswick Tram Depot, and the large bluestone warehouses in Colebrook Street.
Anstey railway station serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, and it opened on 15 December 1926 as North Brunswick. It was renamed Anstey on 1 December 1942 in honour of former State and Federal Member of Parliament, Frank Anstey. In 2020, the station became a temporary terminus whist level crossing removals occurred at Coburg and Moreland. A temporary crossover was provided at the Up end of the station, to allow trains to terminate and return to Flinders Street.
Announced in September 2022, Anstey, along with other stations on the Upfield line, will be elevated to remove eight level crossings on the line. Further details, designs and a construction timeline will be released closer to 2027.
Moreland station during level crossing removal works, showing new and old stations
Moreland railway station, which serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg, opened on 9 September 1884, when the railway line from North Melbourne was extended to Coburg. The station's name was transplanted to Coburg in the early days of European settlement by a Scottish-born land speculator, Farquhar McCrae, whose family had been involved in the Jamaican plantation between 1770 and 1796. McCrae purchased several parcels of land in what is now Brunswick, Coburg and Pascoe Vale South for about £3000 ($600,000 in today’s money) less than four months after he arrived in the colony of Victoria in 1839. McCrae subdivided the land and then marketed the estates as ‘Moreland’. Moves are afoot to change the name due to the present name's connection with slavery.
On 7 May 2019, the Level Crossing Removal Project announced that the Moreland Road and Reynard Street level crossings were to be grade separated. A new elevated station opened on 14 December 2020 after the completion of these works, replacing the previous ground level station.
Coburg station opened as a terminus on 9 September 1884, when the line was extended from North Melbourne. On 8 October 1889, the line was extended to Somerton. On 13 July 1903, the line beyond Coburg was then closed, but was reopened to Fawkner on 13 November 1906. On 2 December 1920, electrification of the line to Coburg occurred. In 1959, the line between Coburg and Fawkner was duplicated. Like the suburb itself, the station was named after the Duke of Edinburgh, a member of the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1870, at the time of the locality's renaming from Pentridge to Coburg in 1870, the Duke was planning a visit to the colony of Victoria.
In 1957 and 1958, a number of sidings were abolished at the station. On 7 May 2019, the Level Crossing Removal Project announced that the Bell Street and Munro Street level crossings were to be grade separated. On 14 December 2020, a new elevated station opened after the completion of these works, replacing the previous ground level station, which closed on 27 July 2020.
A residential suburb 8 km. north of Melbourne, Coburg was also a municipality from 1874 to 1994. In 1837 the government surveyor, Robert Hoddle, surveyed the Coburg area between the two creeks, subdividing it into allotments of between 53 ha. and 287 ha. A village reserve was marked out where the former Pentridge Gaol and Coburg cemetery are now situated. Among the first purchasers were John Pascoe Fawkner (one of the founders of Melbourne), Faquhar McCrae (magistrate and speculator) and Arundel Wrighte (squatter and speculator). Fawkner had two lots, totalling 517 ha. A road to Sydney was marked out along the western side of the village reserve.
Batman railway station serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg North. It was first opened on 8 October 1889 as Bell Park,when the railway line was extended from Coburg to Somerton. It was closed on 13 July 1903, only to be re-opened again on 1 October 1914 as Batman, being named after one of the founders of Melbourne, John Batman.
Merlynston railway station opened on 8 October 1889, when the line was extended from Coburg to Somerton. The station and locality was named by Donald Bain who, in 1919, purchased 31 hectares of land to be subdivided into a estate housing. Bain named the estate after his daughter, Merlyn.
In 1959, the current island platform was provided, when the line was duplicated between Coburg and Fawkner stations. On 9 April 2002, Comeng motor carriage 533M was destroyed by a fire at the station. The fire also damaged part of the station building.
Fawkner railway station originally opened on 8 October 1889, when the line from Coburg was extended to Somerton. The station, like the suburb it serves, was named after John Pascoe Fawkner, one of the founders of Melbourne. The area was first known as Box Forest, after a subdivision of farmlets sold by John Pascoe Fawkner in the early 1850s. The name was superseded by Fawkner fairly soon, although a Box Forest (Anglican) school was opened in 1846 and a Box Forest Road runs along the northern boundary of the Fawkner cemetery. (The original Box Forest subdivision is west of present-day Fawkner.)
When the area north of Coburg was entirely rural, a railway line was opened from Coburg to Somerton, where it joined the main line to Seymour, (1889). In anticipation of this the Coburg Reserve Estate Co. subdivided land for housing, citing the convenience of the North Coburg railway station and another near the present Fawkner station. The venture was unsuccessful. In 1905 the State Government approved the New Melbourne General Cemetery for the northern suburbs, one year after the new eastern suburbs cemetery was opened at Springvale. The cemetery is immediately west of the railway line.
From 1920, Fawkner was the extent of suburban electrified services. Between 1928 until 1959, an AEC railmotor was used to provide a connecting service north to Somerton. In that year, electrified services were extended to Upfield. By the outbreak of the second world war, Fawkner had about 180 buildings, and shortly after the war the Housing Commission built 113 houses in south Fawkner. Private-sector developers built housing and by 1960 the Moomba Park estate (700 houses) in North Fawkner was begun.
Railmotors at Fawkner Station
Gowrie railway station, opened on 17 May 1965, serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Fawkner. Rail Motor Stopping Place No. 21 opened on 16 October 1928 at the site of the present Gowrie station, following the reinstatement of a passenger service on the Fawkner – Somerton line in March of that year. On 5 May 1956, it was closed when the passenger service ceased.
The name of the station comes from a former grazing property named "Gowrie Park", which was named by the owner, who was originally from Gowrie, England. The Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park is located on part of the former property. In 1998, Gowrie was upgraded to a Premium Station following the track from Fawkner to Gowrie being duplicated. Immediately north of the station, the double track merges into a single track, which continues to the terminus at Upfield. Prior to 1998, Platform 1 was a dock platform, requiring trains to cross further down the line near Merlynston.
Campbellfield railway station stood just north of the level crossing at Camp Road between Upfield and Gowrie. The station opened in 1889, and closed when passenger service ceased in 1956. The primitive Mallee Shed, which provided the only passenger accommodation, was removed, and no trace of the station remained. Upfield station now services the suburb of Campbellfield. The suburb was named after two unrelated families named Campbell who brought farm lots in the area in the 1840s. The land at that time was lightly timbered, which made it easy for grazing, plus also due to its proximity to the Merri Creek.
In 2006, it was suggested that that the station might be rebuilt in the not-too-distant future, due to the existence of the Campbellfield Plaza shopping centre nearby, but it never eventuated. Between October and December 2017, the Camp Road level crossing, protected by boom gates, was replaced. The rail line was lowered to pass under the road, and provision was made for both the installation of a second track and the construction of a possible future railway station.
Upfield railway station, which services the northern Melbourne suburb of Campbellfield, is the terminus of the Upfield line. It was opened on 8 October 1889 as North Campbellfield when the railway line from Coburg was extended to Somerton. It closed on 13 July 1903, reopened on 5 March 1928, closed again on 5 May 1956. In that same year, Ford Australia began construction of its Broadmeadows Assembly Plant on land between the Hume Highway and the railway line between Upfield and Somerton. Ford's desire to have a railway line it could use to transport components between the new factory and its Geelong plant, led the State Government to re-open and electrify the line from Fawkner to Somerton. Upfield railway station was opened in its current form on 17 August 1959.
Somerton railway station opened to traffic as a single platform on 15 May 1881. In 1889, the suburban line from Coburg to Somerton was opened, Somerton becoming a junction on the North East (Craigieburn) line, however the line was closed to traffic from the Somerton end in 1903.
The line through Coburg, then terminating at Fawkner, was reopened on 5 March 1928, but no junction was provided at Somerton. Instead, the AEC railmotor that operated the service was turned using a turntable to the south of the station. This situation remained until 1956, when the line from Fawkner was again closed to traffic on 5 May 1956. Three years later, the line was re-opened to service the Ford car factory when it opened in 1959. On 6 December 1960, Somerton was closed to passengers, and Upfield became the line's passenger terminus. Roxburgh Park railway station on the Craigieburn line was built just north of the site of the former Somerton station after the latter was closed to traffic. However, the adjacent goods yard and standard gauge crossing loop retain the Somerton name.
The opening of the Ford factory attracted many other businesses to Campbellfield who took up land in the vicinity of the Ford factory between Sydney Road and the Somerton railway line. Many had branch sidings constructed to service their factories. The Melbourne - Sydney standard gauge line opened for traffic in 1962, and the freight line from Somerton to Upfield was converted to dual gauge in 1963. In 1988, a dual-gauge siding was provided to nearby cement silos and, in 1998, Austrak commenced development of a container terminal, as part of a larger "freight village".
The Ford factory closed in October 2016 with the loss of 650 jobs. Today, the line between Upfield and Somerton and its branch lines lay abandoned and in a state of disrepair. Much of its complicated arrangement of broad, standard, and dual-gauge tracks remain, however sections of the old siding has had its rails removed. Numerous sidings which serviced industry alongside the line, including the double track siding to the Ford car factory, are now overgrown but much of the lines remain intact.
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