# Brunswick railway station, Melbourne

Brunswick railway station is a commuter railway station on the Upfield line, part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Brunswick station is a ground-level unstaffed station, featuring two side platforms. It opened on 9 September 1884.
The station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

## History

Brunswick station opened when the railway line from North Melbourne was extended to Coburg. Like the suburb itself, the station was named after Brunswick Park, a property that was purchased by Thomas Wilkinson and a partner. Brunswick Park was named in honour of either Princess Caroline of Brunswick, or the 1840 marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, of the royal house of Brunswick.
Brunswick had a goods yard which closed in 1966. The goods siding and associated points and signal discs were abolished in that same year. In 1972, the station platforms were lengthened.
Just after 4:45am on 2 August 1977, a seven-car Harris train set rolled away from Gowrie, after the driver and guard were changing ends after taking the train out of a siding, because it was scheduled to operate a city-bound service from Upfield. The train passed through fifteen level crossings and destroyed seven sets of hand gates, before stopping just south of Brunswick, between the Albert and Dawson Streets level crossings.
In 1998, boom barriers replaced hand gates at the Albert Street level crossing, at the up end of the station, and replaced interlocked gates at the Victoria Street level crossing, at the down end of the station. The signal box protecting Victoria Street was also abolished during that time.
On 19 September 2022, it was announced that the Albert Street and Victoria Street level crossings would be removed by grade separation and elevated as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project, along with six other level crossings in Brunswick.
On 19 September 2024, it was announced that Brunswick station, along with Jewell and Anstey stations would be replaced by two new stations which are both currently planned to be located approximately 450 metres from the existing Brunswick station. The new southern station is planned to be located next to Union Street and Dawson Street, while the new northern station is planned to be located next to Hope Street and the eight level crossings to be elevated and removed by 2030. It was also announced that the heritage listed station building on Platform 1 at the existing station and some heritage listed interlocking hand gates at some closed level crossings will be kept and located at its current spot.
The decision to build two stations in different locations instead of rebuilding Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey generated significant criticism from residents and the local council. Local newspaper Brunswick Voice reported that the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson, claimed "the decision to build two stations followed 18 months of technical and engineering assessments which found fewer stations would boost capacity on the line in the future and deliver more open space", noting that "[the government claimed] the plan would also minimise the impact to heritage in the area, but [the politician] provided no detail about whether the three station buildings and the historic boom gate operators' cabins would be preserved".

## Platforms and services

Brunswick has two side platforms. It is served by Upfield line trains.
Platform 1:
* Upfield line all stations services to Flinders Street
Platform 2:
* Upfield line all stations services to Upfield

## Transport links

Dysons operates two bus routes via Brunswick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
* 508 : Alphington station – Moonee Ponds Junction
* 509 : Brunswick West – Barkly Square Shopping Centre
Ventura Bus Lines operates one route to and from Brunswick station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
* Night Bus 951 : to Glenroy station (Saturday and Sunday mornings only)
Yarra Trams operates one route via Brunswick station:
* : North Coburg – Flinders Street station (via Elizabeth Street)

## Gallery

* Southbound view from Platform 1, April 2006
* Southbound view from Platform 2, showing station building on Platform 1, April 2022