Essendon railway station is a

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and

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railway station on the suburban Craigieburn line and the regional Seymour line, part of the Melbourne and Victorian railway networks. It serves the northern suburb of Essendon in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, Australia. Essendon station is a ground level

premium station The Melbourne rail network is a metropolitan Commuter rail, suburban and Rail freight transport, freight rail system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan rail network is centred around th ...

, featuring three platforms, an

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

with two faces and one

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

. It opened on 1 November 1860, with the current station provided in 1871. It initially closed on 1 July 1864, then reopened on 9 October 1871.

History

Essendon station opened on 1 November 1860 as the terminus of the private Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company line. The station closed with the line on 1 July 1864, but was reopened on 9 October 1871, under

government ownership State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an Industry (economics), industry, asset, property, or Business, enterprise by the national government of a country or State (polity), state, or a publi ...

. The line to the north was opened in 1872, as part of the North East line to School House Lane. Like the suburb itself, the station was named after Essendon in

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. In 1878, a completely new station, with a single platform, was provided, on the site of the present

, with passenger subways and

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

s added in 1886, along with conversion of the island platform to the current layout. It was also at that time that a rail overpass was provided at Mount Alexander Road, in what was one of the first

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

projects to be carried out in the state. In 1909, the present buildings were provided, along with a centre track between Platforms 1 and 2. In 1919, electric train services between the city and Essendon were inaugurated, with

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

extended to Broadmeadows in 1921. However, Essendon remained the terminus of most suburban services, with a shuttle service operating beyond until 1925, and all-day through services to Broadmeadows not provided until 1941. In 1965, the double line block signalling between Broadmeadows and Essendon was abolished, and was replaced with three position signalling. In 1969, the station took the layout it has today, with the abolition of the centre track, the closure of the stand-alone

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

, the provision of automatic signalling along the line, and the replacement of the interlocked gates with

boom barrier A bar, post, pole, beam, or boom gate, also known as a boom or a boom barrier, is a beam or bar on a pivot used as a gate. The boom is lowered to block vehicular or pedestrian access through a controlled point or raised to permit such traffic. ...

s at the former Buckley Street

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

. A signal panel was provided within the station office in that same year. On 7 March 1974, Harris motor 518M and Tait motor 368M were destroyed by fire whilst stabled at the station. Tait trailer 85G was also damaged in the fire. On 8 June 1987, stabling of suburban trains at Essendon ceased, with the overhead wiring of all sidings removed just over a year later. On 1 September 1988, the former sidings near Rose Street were removed. On 16 August 1996, Essendon was upgraded to a

. Also in that year, siding "B" was taken out of service. On 7 June 2014, the signal panel was abolished. On 20 September 2016, the

Victorian State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

announced the

of the Buckley Street level crossing. Construction began in 2018, with the level crossing removed and Buckley Street reopening on 28 September of that year. Buckley Street now passes under the railway line in a

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. As part of the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel, it is expected that the turnback facilities at the station will be upgraded, to allow services to start at Essendon when the tunnel opens in 2025.

Platforms and services

Essendon has one

with two faces and one

. Platform 1 is only used by

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...

services to overtake Metro Trains' services, or when three-car trains are terminating, as it is unable to accommodate a six-car train. The station is served by Craigieburn line trains and some V/Line Seymour line services. Platform 1: *

Passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

only for

services and three-car passenger services during major disruptions. Platform 2: * all stations services to Flinders Street * three weekday morning peak-hour V/Line services to

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

(set down only) * one weekday morning peak-hour V/Line service to Southern Cross (set down only) Platform 3: * all stations services to Craigieburn * four weekday evening peak-hour V/Line services to Seymour (pick up only) * one weekday evening peak-hour V/Line service to

Shepparton Shepparton () (Yorta Yorta language, Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River (Victoria), Goulburn River in northern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Mel ...

(pick up only)

Transport links

CDC Melbourne operates one bus route via Essendon station: * : Moonee Ponds Junction – Broadmeadows station

Dysons Dyson Group of Companies, operating as Dysons, is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. The oldest of its subsidiary companies is L.C. Dysons Bus Services, which was founded in June 1952 and is based in Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora ...

operates one bus route to and from Essendon station: * : to Brunswick East Kastoria Bus Lines operates three bus routes via Essendon station: * : Moonee Ponds Junction – Keilor East * : Watergardens station – Moonee Ponds Junction Kinetic Melbourne operates two routes via Essendon station * : to Ivanhoe station *

SmartBus SmartBus is a network of bus services in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Overseen by Public Transport Victoria, the network comprises nine key cross-town and orbital bus routes around Melbourne. Key aspects of the service include more freque ...

: Altona station – Mordialloc Ryan Brothers Bus Service operates two bus routes to and from Essendon station: * : to Keilor Park * : to Highpoint Shopping Centre Sunbury Bus Service operates one bus route via Essendon station: * : Sunbury station – Moonee Ponds Junction Ventura Bus Lines operates one bus route via Essendon station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria: * Night Bus :

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...

( Queen Street) – Broadmeadows station (Saturday and Sunday mornings only)

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...

operates one route via Essendon station: * : Airport West – Flinders Street station (via Elizabeth Street)

Gallery

File:H220-Essendon.jpg, H 220 leads the northbound ''Albury Express'' past the signal box at Essendon, File:Essendon railway station, Melbourne (island platform).jpg, Northbound view from Platform 1, April 2005

References

External links

Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Craigieburn=y, North Eastern=y, state=collapsed Essendon, Victoria Federation style architecture Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne Listed railway stations in Australia Premium Melbourne railway stations Railway stations in Australia opened in 1860 Railway stations in the City of Moonee Valley