Ruthven railway station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

way station on the

Mernda line The Mernda line is a commuter railway line on the Melbourne metropolitan railway network serving the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, the line is coloured red and is one of the two lines that const ...

, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of

Reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

, 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. It opened on 5 August 1963.

History

Ruthven station was named after William Ruthven, who served in both world wars (winning the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

), and was later a member of the

Victorian Parliament The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly ...

, representing Preston and then

. A ceremony was held a day earlier to celebrate the opening, and dignitaries attending included Transport Minister

Edward Meagher Edward Raymond Meagher (22 November 1908 – 31 May 1988) was an Australian politician. Background He was born in Brunswick to storeman Edward Roden Meagher and Florence May Williams. He attended Melbourne Technical College, and from 193 ...

, and the

opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

John Galbally John William "Jack" Galbally, , (2 August 1910 – 8 July 1990) was a lawyer and Labor Party politician. Early life Galbally was educated at St Patrick's College in East Melbourne and Melbourne High School. He graduated from the University ...

. When it opened, the station building was painted bright red. In 2022, Ruthven received a $1.03 million upgrade, as part of the ''Victoria's Big Build'' project, including improved facilities and lighting, resurfacing the asphalt on the island platform, new PTV station signage with the red "Clifton Hill group" colour, and a

substation A substation is a part of an electrical Electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission, and electric power distribution, distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or pe ...

constructed opposite Platform 1.

Platforms and services

Ruthven has one

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 is served by

trains. Platform 1: * all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street Platform 2: * all stations services to

Mernda Mernda is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 26 km north-east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Whittlesea local government area. Mernda recorded a population of 23,369 at the 2021 census. Hi ...

Transport links

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 via Ruthven station, under contract to

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...

: * :

Pacific Epping Pacific Epping is a shopping centre in Epping, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It opened in 1996. It is located on the corner of High Street and Cooper Street, away from Epping railway station, Melbourne, and approximately north of ...

–

Northland Shopping Centre Northland Shopping Centre is a major shopping centre in Preston, Victoria, Preston, approximately 11 km north of the Melbourne central business district in Victoria, Australia. It is the largest predominantly single-level shopping centre in ...

Gallery

File:Ruthven Railway Station.jpg, Northbound view from Platform 2, May 2014 File:Platform 1 signage Ruthven station.jpg, New-style station signage,
May 2023

References

External links

Melway map
at street-directory.com.au {{Public Transport Victoria railway stations, Mernda=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in Australia opened in 1963 Railway stations in the City of Darebin