North Melbourne Station

North Melbourne Station
Station
Line: Geelong and Warrnambool
Distance from Melbourne: 1.714 km
Track Diagram: View
Google Maps: Satellite /  Map
Opened: October 6, 1859

North Melbourne station is the interchange point between country and suburban services to the north and west of Melbourne. It has six platforms, and tracks headed off in multiple directions from each end. The modern station buildings and platform access are located the the south end, with a second concourse at the south end, along with the the former station buildings.

Routes


At the south trains may proceed into the underground loop, or to the country or suburban platforms at Southern Cross via the junction at Franklin Street]. The freight lines to the west of the North Melbourne station run around the edge of Southern Cross, and once served Melbourne Yard.

To the north pairs of tracks run to Upfield, Essendon via ground level, Footscray bypassing the South Kensington platforms, Footscray via the South Kensington platforms, and Essendon via the Essendon Flyover. Freight lines run beside the Upfield line to the Arden Street sidings, as well as parallel to the Essendon Flyover tracks.

The Melbourne Yard arrival roads are located to the west of the station. Melbourne Yard and North Melbourne stabling yards are located near the station for the storage of suburban trains.

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History


The first railway through the site of North Melbourne station was today's Williamstown line and the first section of the Echuca Railway (to Sunbury), both opened on January 13, 1859. The first passenger station with two platforms was opened on December 6, 1859, and the present six platform station was opened on June 9, 1886.

The new station was of free classical architecture, with red brick was used with cream brick banding, along with verandahs and cast iron lace work. As built in 1886 North Melbourne had six platforms, with four platform buildings containing ladies toilets and a ladies waiting room. The main booking office, waiting room, and station masters office was located near the ramp to platform 1, and mens toilets and porters offices were located under the ramps themselves.The bridge over the railway line at the down end was originally a road bridge.

The suburban train stabling yard near the station was opened in December 1973 as part of the City Loop project. The washing plant and additional sidings in in Melbourne Yard were made operational in May 1995, as part of the Jolimont Yard rationalisation.

The present station buildings on the concourse were constructed in 1974, and in the 1970s as part of the construction works for the City Loop platforms 1 and 2 were closed to provided access to the tunnels. Part of this work resulted in the ramps to platform 1 and 2 being altered, and the platform extended to the north. The station was upgraded to Premium Station status on July 19, 1996.

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Redevelopment


On 15 May 2006, it was announced that the station was to be redeveloped as part of a $36 million dollar project. Works include a new main entrance at the southern end of the station with new escalators, stairs and lifts installed for quicker access to other platforms and to help disabled passengers, with completion was expected for 2010.

Work started in February 2007, with a number of disused tracks removed from the Coburg Goods Lines to form a staging area for construction work. A flagman protected crossing of the remaining tracks was provided at between the compound and Melbourne Yard. In May road blocks were put in place on the north side of the station for a second construction site, and work started to remove advertising hoardings on the platforms. In July work on the station proper commenced, the embankment along platform 1 was cut back to make room for the new concourse, the disused 1980s brick office on platform 1 was also removed.

In August the first part of the temporary support structure was put into place over the south end all platforms, this allowed work to continue on the new concourse above the tracks without disrupting train services below. Initially only 10 or so metres deep, it was extended to about 40 metres deep by February 2008 as work on the concourse progressed. For the new few months little appeared to happen on the project, as all of the works was being carried out behind the support structure. The first of the new platform shelters was lifted into place in July 2008, each being constructed in the upper or lower level construction staging areas, then lifted into place. The first escalators were put into placed in August. A new passenger information system was installed in October, using LCD screens instead of the elderly CRTs.

Unrelated to the redevelopment works, in November 2008 platforms 5 and 6 were hurriedly extended by one carriage length at the south end, this was to allow V/Line to operate 7 car long VLocity trains on the Geelong line. These platform extensions were finished only a few days before the first 7 car long train ran.

By December 2008 all of the platform shelters were in place, throughout January 2009 the first roof section for the new concourse were constructed at the upper level staging area, then slid into their final position using a series of runners along the top of the support structure. The first section was placed in February, the second in April, and the third and final one in May. By June 2009 work started to remove the various temporary structures, by the end of the month the majority of the new concourse was exposed and complete. However work continued on the new station building atop the hill for some months. The new concourse opened on September 7 for platform interchange use only, the station building and new entrance out of use as it was still being worked on. In November 16 the new entry opened, and the old entry closed off.

As part of the works the station exit from the station across to South Dynon was closed by a gate, the reason given by Connex being that the unprotected level crossings along the route were unsafe for public access. It is more likely they did not want an extra exit from the paid area to police - the level crossings of the sidings are a great deal safer that the suggested alternative of the footpath along the Dynon Road bridge.

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Events


October 6, 1859 Opened
Line Opened
January 17, 1859 Williamstown line finally completed to Melbourne. Geelong trains can now operate direct to Spencer Street Station
Track Amplified
January 20, 1922 Line amplified to six tracks Southern Cross to Essendon Flyover

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Diagrams


NOTE: Diagrams are not to scale.

 North Melbourne on opening

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Photos


Nine of 69 images found displayed. Click them to enlarge.

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North Melbourne station upgrade


Nine of 144 images found displayed. Click them to enlarge.

Steps up from platform 1

September 17, 2009

Esclators down to platform 1

September 17, 2009

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