# Macleod railway station

Macleod railway station is a commuter railway station on the Hurstbridge line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the north-eastern suburb of Macleod, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Macleod station is a ground level premium station, featuring three platforms, an island platform with two faces and one side platform. It opened on 1 March 1911, with the current station provided in 1979.

## History

Macleod station was completed by November 1910, and was opened to traffic on 1 March 1911.
The station is named after Malcolm Anderson Macleod, a prominent local resident, whose wife Edith Jessie Macleod purchased land in the area. The press of the time credited Edith Macleod's husband with owning the land but this was not the case. A thin strip of Macleod's land measuring 31.51 hectares was sold to the State Government to enable the construction of a branch line for the Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital. The timing and methods by which the strip of land was acquired for the railway line was likely corrupt. The land transfer was examined as part of the 1909 Royal Commission on the Acquisition of Certain Estates by Sir Thomas Bent which found that the Crown had paid too much for it.
After the land acquisition, engineers discovered that the acquired land was too steep to accommodate the proposed railway line, so a land swap had to be arranged between Edith Macleod and the Crown for some of her remaining land holdings nearby. The land swap was enabled by the Mont Park Land Act 1910 (Vic.), which finally enabled the construction of the freight-only Mont Park branch line from Macleod station to the asylum in a north-westerly direction. From 1911 to 1964, Macleod was the junction of the Mont Park branch line.
Newspaper articles from the time claim that Malcolm Macleod conceived of the idea of the railway station at Macleod by stipulating that it had to be built at that location and under his name in return for the land transfer, however a reservation for the railway station had been in place since the Board of Land and Works had acquired land for a railway line in 1894 and it has been demonstrated that the railway station was not his idea. The original proposal was to name the station "Mont Park".
In 1979, the present day Platform 3 was provided on an alignment near the former branch line alignment, as were three stabling sidings immediately to the south of the station, both coinciding with the duplication of the railway line between Macleod and Greensborough. A number of train services terminate at Macleod, before proceeding to the sidings to stable.
In 2001, Macleod was upgraded to a premium station.
On 25 October 2022, the Level Crossing Removal Project announced that the Ruthven Street level crossing, located nearby in the up direction of the station, will be grade separated by 2027, with the railway line to be rebuilt over the road.

## Facilities, platforms and services

Macleod has one island platform with two faces and one side platform. Platform 1 has an enclosed waiting area, ticket facilities, a Protective Services Officer pod and toilets.
It is serviced by Metro Trains' Hurstbridge line services.
Platform 1:
* Hurstbridge line all stations and limited express services to Flinders Street
Platform 2:
* Hurstbridge line all stations services to Greensborough, Eltham and Hurstbridge
Platform 3:
* Hurstbridge line terminating services to and from Flinders Street

## Transport links

Dysons operates one route via Macleod station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:
* 561 : Macleod – Pascoe Vale station

## Gallery

* Southbound view of the station platforms, May 2014
* Southbound view from Platform 1, May 2018
* Station shelter on Platforms 2 and 3, May 2018
* A Victorian Railways signal key attached to the Platform 1 building, May 2018
* Northbound view from Platform 3, November 2018