Middle Park light rail station

Middle Park is a light rail station on the former St Kilda railway line, in the Melbourne suburb of Middle Park, on the corner of Canterbury Road and Armstrong Street. A pair of low-level side platforms now serve route 96 trams running on a light rail line. Other nearby light rail stops are at Fraser Street and Wright Street. Those and a number of other stops were added after the line was converted to light rail.

Middle Park
PTV tram stop
Middle Park light rail station, 2023
General information
Location	Albert Park/Middle Park Victoria 3206 Australia
Coordinates	37°50′59″S 144°57′56″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Yarra Trams
Line(s)	St Kilda
Platforms	2 (2 side)
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	At grade
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Operational
Station code	130 MPK (former)
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
History
Opened	2 July 1883
Closed	1 August 1987
Rebuilt	21 November 1987
Electrified	600 V DC overhead
Previous names	Middle Park railway station
Services
Preceding station Yarra Trams Following station Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre towards East Brunswick Route 96 Fraser Street towards St Kilda Beach
Former services Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station Albert Park   St Kilda line   St Kilda   List of closed railway stations in Melbourne

History

Middle Park station opened in 1883, well after the line through it opened in 1857.^[1] The St Kilda railway line closed in 1987, and was converted to light rail, with the route 96 tram now running past the former station. The last train service ran on 31 July 1987, and the light rail service was officially commissioned on 21 November of that year.^[2] The high-level platforms used by trains were demolished to make way for the construction of lower-level platforms, but the station building remained at the original level.

In 2006, the building was redeveloped as a café called Mart 130, but it was gutted by fire on 19 February 2018,^[3] and later demolished. It has since been rebuilt and, as of 2022^[update], houses the For Change Co. café^[4] It was not the first time fire had destroyed the station: a fire in July 1978 also gutted the station building.^[5]

Tram services

Yarra Trams operates one route via Middle Park station:

• : East Brunswick – St Kilda Beach^[6]

References

1. "Middle Park". VICSIG - Infrastructure. vicsig.net. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
2. Chris Banger (March 1997). "Rail Passenger Service Withdrawals Since 1960". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 77–82.
3. Simonis, Aneeka (20 February 2018). "Middle Park railway cafe destroyed by fire". Herald Sun. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
4. Webb, Carolyn (15 August 2021). "All aboard for coffee with a conscience at youth charity's station cafe". The Age. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
5. "Works". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. December 1979. p. 288.
6. "96 East Brunswick - St Kilda Beach". Public Transport Victoria.