Blackburn railway station, Melbourne

MelbourneRailwayStation1
NAME=Blackburn
IMAGELINK=Blackburn-station-platform.jpg
CAPTION=Overview of the station platforms and buildings
CODE=BBN
DISTANCE=17.4 km
LINES=Lilydale,
Belgrave
PLATFORMS=3
TRACKS=3
STATUS=Premium station
FACILITIES= [http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/stop/view/19898 Link]
TIMETABLES= [http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/stop/view/19898#lineInformation Link]

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=-37.820073,145.150037&spn=0.00628,0.009978 Link]
ZONE=2

Blackburn railway station is a railway station on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines in Melbourne, Australia. It is located between Railway Road and South Parade in Blackburn, about 250 metres west of Blackburn Road. The station is 17.4 kilometres by rail from Flinders Street station. Blackburn has been a Premium Station since 1996cite journal
year = 1997
month = October
title = Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station
journal = Newsrail
publisher = Australian Railway Heritage Society (Victorian Division)
pages = page 310 ] , and is in Zone 2 of the Metlink system.

History

In 1882, the railway from Melbourne to Camberwell was extended to Lilydale, to form the Lilydale line. This line was opened on December 1 1882. Blackburn station, then known as Blackburn Creek station, was opened on December 25 of that year.

At this time, the Lilydale line had only a single track, and used a token-based system of signalling. On August 12 1889, Blackburn was designated a 'crossing station', meaning that it had a loop line to allow trains to pass each other. In December 1891, a second track was added to the section of the Lilydale line between Box Hill and Ringwood stations. At this time, Blackburn had two platforms.

Services terminating at Blackburn began in the late 1890s, due to the large number of passengers visiting the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary. However, there were relatively few trains passing through Blackburn - around two trains per hour in 1901.

The Lilydale line was electrified as far as Box Hill station on December 17 1922. By the end of January 1923, electrification had proceeded past Blackburn as far as Ringwood station.

Automatic signalling, which had reached Box Hill in 1929, was finally extended to Blackburn on July 13 1958. However, automatic signalling was not installed between Blackburn and Mitcham stations until November 13 1960.

In 1980 the goods siding was removed and the old station was demolished (although part of the south platform building remains). It was replaced with a 3 platform station so trains could terminate there while Box Hill station was being rebuilt. A new ramp from the old tunnel now provides pedestrian access to the central island platforms. Vic Rail's plan in the late 1970s was to add the third track to the south, but Nunawading Council objected because it would destroy the park there. By 2001, all services that formerly terminated at Box Hill had been extended to Blackburn.

In late 2006 and early 2007, grade separation works at the nearby Middleborough Road level crossing led to the closure of the line between Box Hill station and Blackburn station, and the construction of a temporary bus interchange at Blackburn for the bus services which replaced the trains. The carpark immediately to the north of platform 3 was converted into the interchange, and a walkway was constructed to allow passengers to cross from the central platforms to the interchange. [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&project=Middleborough%20Road%20Project VICSIG - Middleborough Road project] ]

Facilities

Blackburn station has three platforms, numbered from south to north. Platforms 1 and 2 form an island platform, while platform 3 backs on to a carpark (with 120 spaces) to the north of the station. There was originally a goods siding where the carpark now stands.

Platform 1 is used for inbound (towards the city) services. Platform 2 is used mostly for outbound services. During morning and afternoon peak trains terminating at Blackburn use platform 2, and outbound services use platform 3

Blackburn station is also an important bus interchange. Routes 286 and 289 depart from Railway Road, and routes 703, 736 and 765 depart from South Parade.

Blackburn station has twelve bicycle lockers.

Congestion

The station and its level crossing is the site of one of Melbourne's more notorious traffic bottlenecks: Metropolitan route 13 (Blackburn and Surrey Roads) has several turns through the central Blackburn area, leading to slow traffic which is then in turn held up by peak hour trains. There is no obvious solution to the problem; grade separation is impossible due to the surrounding shops.

References

* Da Costa, Robin. "Blackburn: A Picturesque History", Pioneer Design Studio, 1978.
* VICSIG - [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&section=lineguide&line=Lilydale Line Data Lilydale Line] .
* Nunawading Gazette 1980.

External links

* [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&box=Blackburn Blackburn signal box]
* [http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/middleboroughroad Middleborough Road Grade Separation Project] (Vicroads website)

MelbourneStations
Line=Lilydale & Belgrave lines
Here=Blackburn
Previous=Laburnum
Next=Nunawading