Rushall railway station

For the closed station in England, see Rushall railway station (England).

Rushall railway station is a commuter railway station on the Mernda line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the north-eastern suburb of Fitzroy North, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Rushall station is a ground level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 1 January 1927.^[4]

Rushall
PTV commuter rail station
North-west bound view from Platform 1, showing station buildings, November 2022
General information
Location	Sumner Avenue, Fitzroy North, Victoria 3068 City of Yarra Australia
Coordinates	37°47′00″S 144°59′31″E
Owned by	VicTrack
Operated by	Metro Trains
Line(s)	Mernda
Distance	7.54 kilometres from Southern Cross
Platforms	2 side
Tracks	2
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Parking	5
Accessible	No—steep ramp
Other information
Status	Operational, unstaffed
Station code	RUS
Fare zone	Myki Zone 1
Website	Public Transport Victoria
History
Opened	1 January 1927; 97 years ago (1927-01-01)
Electrified	July 1921 (1500 V DC overhead)
Passengers
2005–2006	115,830[1]
2006–2007	123,832[1]  6.9%
2007–2008	131,305[1]  6.03%
2008–2009	143,079[2]  8.96%
2009–2010	157,927[2]  10.38%
2010–2011	160,404[2]  1.57%
2011–2012	173,371[2]  8.08%
2012–2013	Not measured[2]
2013–2014	146,868[2]  15.3%
2014–2015	151,286[1]  3%
2015–2016	166,634[2]  10.14%
2016–2017	153,094[2]  8.12%
2017–2018	167,202[2]  9.22%
2018–2019	158,350[2]  5.29%
2019–2020	124,600[2]  21.3%
2020–2021	69,400[2]  44.3%
2021–2022	72,550[3]  4.53%
Services
Preceding station Metro Trains Following station Clifton Hill towards Flinders Street Mernda line Merri towards Mernda
Track layout Legend to Clifton Hill 1 2 Merri Creek to Merri

History

Named after a nearby street, itself possibly named after a housing development in 1869,^[5] Rushall was also a station on the former Inner Circle line, which operated between Clifton Hill and Royal Park until July 1948.

Rushall is located next to the Merri Creek, and is connected to Westgarth by a narrow, 80-metre-long footbridge for pedestrians and cyclists, crossing the Merri Creek as part of the Merri Creek Trail.

Incidents

On 6 February 2016, whilst operating a Flinders Street service, and negotiating the tightest curve on the metropolitan railway system, a trailer carriage of an X'Trapolis train derailed 100m north of the station, resulting in one injury. The line reopened the next day.^[6]

On 10 February 2016, another derailment, involving railway track machines, occurred near Rushall. That derailment resulted in buses replacing trains between Clifton Hill and Bell for much of 11 February. The line partially reopened for evening peak-hour commuters later that day.^[7]

In music

Melbourne indie band Underground Lovers wrote a song named Rushall Station, about the quietness of the site, which then became the title track for an album. The station is also mentioned in Marcel Borrack's song Regent to Rushall.^[8]

In October 2016, Melbourne electronic music producer Arcadic released a single named after the station, titled Rushall. The artwork depicted Merri Creek, taken from the window of a train departing Rushall station.^[9]

Platforms and services

Rushall has two side platforms. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Mernda line services.^[10]

Platform 1:

•  Mernda line  all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street

Platform 2:

•  Mernda line  all stations services to Mernda

Transport links

Kinetic Melbourne operates two bus routes via Rushall station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  250 : Queen Street (Melbourne CBD) – La Trobe University Bundoora campus^[11]
•  251 : Queen Street (Melbourne CBD) – Northland Shopping Centre^[12]

Gallery

• 
  Merri Creek footbridge, which connects the station to the Merri Creek Trail and nearby Westgarth, November 2004
• 
  South-east bound view from Platform 2,
  October 2005

References

1. Estimated Annual Patronage by Network Segment Financial Year 2005-2006 to 2018-19 Department of Transport
2. Railway station and tram stop patronage in Victoria for 2008-2021 Philip Mallis
3. Annual metropolitan train station patronage (station entries) Data Vic
4. "Rushall". vicsig.net. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
5. "Fitzroy North". Victorian Places. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
6. Whitelaw, Anna (7 February 2016). "South Morang train derails in Fitzroy North". The Age. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
7. Carey, Adam (11 February 2016). "Metro's second derailment at Rushall in one week forces commuters onto buses". The Age. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
8. Songs About Melbourne - Fitzroy Australia by Song
9. "Rushall, by arcadic". arcadic. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
10. "Mernda Line". Public Transport Victoria.
11. "250 City (Queen St) - La Trobe University". Public Transport Victoria.
12. "251 City (Queen St) - Northland SC". Public Transport Victoria.

External links

• Media related to Rushall railway station, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons
• Melway map at street-directory.com.au