Blackburn railway station (station code BBN) is a station on the Lilydale and Belgrave railway 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 is a 'premium' station in Zone 2 of the Metlink system.

Layout and Services

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, and platform 3 for outbound services at all times. Platform 2 is used mainly for express services: those running inbound during the morning peak and those running outbound during the afternoon peak. Trains terminating at Blackburn also use platform 2.

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 .

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 the 1980s, works including the addition of a third platform, the removal of the goods siding and the refurbishment of the buildings on the main platform were undertaken. A tunnel now provides pedestrian access to the central island platforms. By 2001, all services that formerly terminated at Box Hill had been extended to Blackburn.

References

1. Da Costa, Robin. "Blackburn: A Picturesque History", Pioneer Design Studio, 1978.
2. VICSIG - Line Data Lilydale Line.