Balaclava railway station, Melbourne
Balaclava railway station is located on the Sandringham line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Balaclava, and opened on 19 December 1859. History. Balaclava station, like the suburb itself, was named after the Battle of Balaclava, which occurred in 1854 during the Crimean War. It is an elevated station, located above the Carlisle Street rail overpass. On 3 December 1977, the station building was damaged by fire, and they were reconstructed in 1981. In 1996, two men found $200,000 in a drum buried beneath one of the platforms. They handed  the money into the police and the find was reported in the media. In the same week, another man found a second drum under the platform, containing a similar quantity of money, which he also turned into the police. Because no one claimed it, both men were granted ownership of the money they found, despite being considered trespassers on land owned by the then Public Transport Corporation. In June 2012, a $13.3 million upgrade to the station was announced. It involved widening the platforms, and improving stair and ramp access, signage, booking office facilities, waiting rooms, wheelchair shelters and  toilets, as well as the provision of new station canopies to increase weather protection. CCTV cameras were added, as well as provision for future lifts. The work was completed in October 2014, and the station was upgraded to a Premium Station. The station was scheduled to receive an upgraded commuter car park, following a 2019 commitment by the federal government, but that was scrapped in 2021. Platforms and services. Balaclava has two side platforms. It is served by Sandringham line trains. Platform 1: Platform 2: Transport links. Yarra Trams operates two routes via Balaclava station: