Brunswick railway station, Melbourne

Brunswick railway station is a commuter railway station on the Upfield line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Brunswick, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Brunswick station is a ground level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 9 September 1884.^[4]

Brunswick
PTV commuter rail station
Southbound view of the station platforms, with a Siemens Nexas train on Platform 1, September 2024
General information
Location	Wilkinson Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056 City of Merri-bek Australia
Coordinates	37°46′04″S 144°57′35″E
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; 140 years ago (1884-09-09)
Electrified	1500 V DC overhead (December 1920)
Passengers
2005–2006	201,458[1]
2006–2007	221,333[1]  9.86%
2007–2008	239,699[1]  8.29%
2008–2009	269,396[2]  12.38%
2009–2010	302,548[2]  12.3%
2010–2011	299,091[2]  1.14%
2011–2012	286,981[2]  4.05%
2012–2013	Not measured[2]
2013–2014	348,470[2]  21.43%
2014–2015	353,748[1]  1.51%
2015–2016	357,322[2]  1.01%
2016–2017	370,309[2]  3.63%
2017–2018	377,805[2]  2.02%
2018–2019	395,250[2]  4.62%
2019–2020	304,300[2]  23%
2020–2021	155,350[2]  48.9%
2021–2022	167,400[3]  7.75%
Services
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 2030) Albert Street (to be removed by 2030) 1 2 Victoria Street (to be removed by 2030) to Anstey

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]

On 19 September 2022, it was announced that the Albert Street and Victoria Street level crossings would be removed by grade separation and elevated as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project, along with six other level crossings in Brunswick.^[13]

On 19 September 2024, it was announced that Brunswick station, along with Jewell and Anstey stations would be replaced by two new stations which are both currently planned to be located approximately 450 metres from the existing Brunswick station. The new southern station is planned to be located next to Union Street and Dawson Street, while the new northern station is planned to be located next to Hope Street and the eight level crossings to be elevated and removed by 2030. It was also announced that the heritage listed station building on Platform 1 at the existing station and some heritage listed interlocking hand gates at some closed level crossings will be kept and located at its current spot.^[14]

The decision to build two stations in different locations instead of rebuilding Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey generated significant criticism from residents and the local council. Local newspaper Brunswick Voice reported that the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson, claimed "the decision to build two stations followed 18 months of technical and engineering assessments which found fewer stations would boost capacity on the line in the future and deliver more open space", noting that "[the government claimed] the plan would also minimise the impact to heritage in the area, but [the politician] provided no detail about whether the three station buildings and the historic boom gate operators' cabins would be preserved".^[15]

Platforms and services

Brunswick has two side platforms. 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

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

•  508 : Alphington station – Moonee Ponds Junction^[17]
•  509 : Brunswick West – Barkly Square Shopping Centre^[18]

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)^[19]

Yarra Trams operates one route via Brunswick station:

• : North Coburg – Flinders Street station (via Elizabeth Street)^[20]

Gallery

• 
  Southbound view from Platform 1, April 2006
• 
  Southbound view from Platform 2, showing station building on Platform 1, April 2022

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. "Have your say on Brunswick level crossing removals". Victoria's Big Build. 19 September 2024. Archived from the original on 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
15. Phillips, Mark (19 September 2024). "Station to be axed under skyrail revamp". Brunswick Voice. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
16. "Upfield Line". Public Transport Victoria.
17. "508 Alphington - Moonee Ponds via Northcote & Brunswick". Public Transport Victoria.
18. "509 Brunswick West - Barkly Square SC via Hope St & Sydney Rd". Public Transport Victoria.
19. 951 Brunswick Station – Glenroy Station via West Coburg Archived 27 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine Public Transport Victoria
20. "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