Epping railway station, Melbourne

MelbourneRailwayStation1
NAME=Epping
IMAGELINK=Epping-station-building.jpg
CAPTION=Down end of Epping station looking towards the city
CODE=EPP
DISTANCE=21.2 km
LINES=Epping
PLATFORMS=2
TRACKS=2
STATUS=Premium Station
FACILITIES= [http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/stop/view/20005 Link]
TIMETABLES= [http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/stop/view/20005#lineInformation Link]


GOOGLE=
ZONE=Zone 2

Epping is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in the suburb of Epping, on the Epping railway line. Classed as a Premium Station, it is in Metcard Zone 2.

Facilities

Epping station is located at the western end of the disused Cooper Street level crossing, which provides station access.

The station consists of two platforms, in an island format, with a large brick building with an enclosed waiting room, a ticket office and toilets, at the Whittlesea end of the station. A large Metcard machine is located in the waiting room, which is able to dispense most ticketing options available and also accept notes and coins. A small cafe is located at the entrance to the station. The Epping suburban train depot is situated at the Melbourne end of the station.

History

Epping station opened on Monday, December 23, 1889 as a wayside station on the line to Whittlesea. [ [http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&name=Epping VICSIG Infrastructure - Epping] ] Services to the station were operated as country services, from 1924 a railmotor shuttle from Reservoir station to Whittlesea operated until the line was closed north of Lalor station in November 1959.cite journal | year = 1995 | month = November | title = Reservoir - Whittlesea: Signalling and Safeworking | author = Jack McLean | journal = Newsrail | publisher = Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division) | pages = pages 333–337 ]

The station was not reopened until electrification was extended one station from Lalor to Epping in 1964.cite book
last = S.E. Doorman and R.G. Henderson
title = Electric Railways of Victoria
publisher = Australian Electric Traction Society
page = page 84
year = 1979
isbn = 0 909459 06 1 ] The station was rebuilt during the late 1980s in conjunction with the construction of the adjacent train depot, with the north face of the current island platform brought into use in July 1987 along with temporary station buildings. The new platform was built on a new alignment with 200 metres of new track needed to link to the existing line. The old platform and station building was demolished in 1987.cite journal | year = 1987 | month = October | title = Works | journal = Newsrail | publisher = Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division) | pages = page 314 ] The new Solid State Interlocking was commissioned in 1989, [cite web
url=http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&box=Epping
title=Signalboxes - Epping
work=VICSIG
accessdate=2008-07-30] and was the first fully computerised system in Melbourne.

The suburban train depot was opened in 1990,cite web
url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~nhcs/Nhcsnews.html
title=Extracts of 'The Whittlesea Railway' by Robert Aquilina
work=The Northcote History Group
publisher=home.vicnet.net.au
accessdate=2008-06-16] with the station rebuilt at the same time as an island platform. The depot was opened to replace the Jolimont Workshops in central Melbourne, and was built at a cost of $40 million. The depot covers 10.8 hectares, and can accommodate 31 trains, with the facility including a main workshop building, four elevated tracks, two lifting tracks, and a train wash. [cite journal | year = 1989 | month = June | title = New Eppping electric rain depot | author = Hugo Van Den Berghe | journal = Newsrail | publisher = Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division) | pages = pages 168–169 ] The station was upgraded to Premium Station status in 1998.cite journal
year = 1997
month = October
title = Upgrading Eltham to a Premium Station
journal = Newsrail
publisher = Australian Railway Heritage Society (Victorian Division)
pages = page 310 ]

References

MetlinkAndClosedStations
Line1 = Epping line
Next1 =
Previous1 = Lalor
ClosedLine = Continued as the Whittlesea line
ClosedNext = South Morang
ClosedPreviousplain = Epping line
VICORMELB=Melbourne