Merlynston railway station

Merlynston railway station is located on the Upfield line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg North, and it opened on 8 October 1889 as North Coburg. It closed on 13 July 1903, and reopened on 1 October 1914. On 6 February 1922, it was renamed Merlynston.[4]

Merlynston
PTV commuter rail station
North-east bound view of the station building in November 2006
General information
LocationBain Avenue,
Coburg North, Victoria 3058
City of Merri-bek
Australia
Coordinates37°43′15″S 144°57′41″E
Owned byVicTrack
Operated byMetro Trains
Line(s)Upfield
Distance12.49 kilometres from
Southern Cross
Platforms2 (1 island)
Tracks2
ConnectionsList of bus routes in Melbourne Bus
Construction
Structure typeGround
Parking218
Bicycle facilitiesYes
AccessibleYes—step free access
Other information
StatusOperational, unstaffed
Station codeMYN
Fare zoneMyki Zone 1/2 overlap
WebsitePublic Transport Victoria
History
Opened8 October 1889 (1889-10-08)
Closed13 July 1903
Rebuilt1 October 1914
19 July 1959
ElectrifiedDecember 1920
(1500 V DC overhead)
Previous namesNorth Coburg (1889-1922)
Passengers
2005–2006257,385[1]
2006–2007283,721[1] Increase 10.23%
2007–2008321,808[1] Increase 13.42%
2008–2009391,833[2] Increase 21.76%
2009–2010420,566[2] Increase 7.33%
2010–2011420,630[2] Increase 0.01%
2011–2012387,519[2] Decrease 7.87%
2012–2013Not measured[2]
2013–2014363,901[2] Decrease 6.1%
2014–2015351,291[1] Decrease 3.46%
2015–2016361,922[2] Decrease 0.54%
2016–2017371,447[2] Increase 2.63%
2017–2018334,983[2] Decrease 9.82%
2018–2019392,850[2] Increase 17.27%
2019–2020296,300[2] Decrease 24.6%
2020–2021126,950[2] Decrease 57.2%
2021–2022154,400[3] Increase 21.62%
Services
Preceding station Railways in Melbourne Metro Trains Following station
Batman
towards Flinders Street
 Upfield line Fawkner
towards Upfield

History

Merlynston station opened on 8 October 1889, when the railway line was extended from Coburg to Somerton.[4] The station and locality was named by Donald Bain who, in 1919, purchased 31 hectares of land to be subdivided into a estate housing. Bain named the estate after his daughter, Merlyn.[5][6]

In 1948, flashing light signals were provided at the nearby Boundary Road level crossing, located in the down direction of the station.[4] In 1959, the current island platform was provided, when the line was duplicated between Coburg and Fawkner.[4]

In 1984, boom barriers were provided at the Boundary Road level crossing.[7]

In November 1998, a level crossing that was located at Shorts Road, south of the station, was closed,[8] and a dead-end street was created on either side of the railway line. Until the track was duplicated to Gowrie in that year,[9] the line north of the station had only a single track, apart from the island platform at Gowrie, which had two platforms. However, one platform was a dock platform,[10] meaning trains couldn't cross at Gowrie, and had to cross at Merlynston.

On 9 April 2002, Comeng motor carriage 533M was destroyed by a fire at the station. The fire also damaged part of the station building.[11][12][13]

Platforms and services

Merlynston has one island platform with two faces. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Upfield line services.[14]

Platform 1:

Platform 2:

Broadmeadows Bus Service operates two routes via Merlynston station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

  •  530 : Campbellfield Plaza Shopping Centre – Coburg[15]
  •  531 : Upfield station – North Coburg[16]

Dysons operates one route via Merlynston station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

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. "Merlynston". vicsig.net. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  5. "Items of interest". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 30 January 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 11 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Merlynston". Victorian Places. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  7. "SRS Suburban Tour Notes - Coburg Line" (PDF). VR Website by Andrew Waugh. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  8. Shiel, Fegus (1 November 1998). "Gates shut on a suburb's quiet boom". The Age. p. 11.
  9. "Upfield Line". vicsig.net. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  10. "Sunday 17-7-1988 Gowrie". Flickr - High Bicyclist Photostream. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  11. Gould, Russell (10 April 2002). "Passengers flee fire". Herald Sun. p. 3.
  12. Cullen, Philip (11 April 2002). "Train arsonists sought". Herald Sun. p. 12.
  13. "General News". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. June 2002. p. 172.
  14. "Upfield Line". Public Transport Victoria.
  15. "530 Campbellfield - Coburg via Fawkner". Public Transport Victoria.
  16. "531 Upfield - North Coburg via Somerset Estate". Public Transport Victoria.
  17. "534 Glenroy to Coburg via Boundary Road & Sydney Road". Public Transport Victoria.
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