Essendon railway station is located on Buckley Street near Mt Alexander Road in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, 9.2 km north of Melbourne's main central station, Flinders Street Station in Metcard zone 1. The station consists of an island platform accessible via a pedestrian subway. The station's building is constructed of red brick in the Federation Free Classical Style.

Description

Nearby attractions are Windy Hill where you can see Essendon Football Club practice. Essendon is the nearest station to Kargan Batman TAFE.

There are a number of local private schools, the students of which dominate morning inbound passenger numbers. The schools include Ave Maria College, St Columba's College, Lowther Hall Anglican Grammer School and Penleigh & Essendon Grammer.

Features

Essendon Railway Station is a premium station, meaning it is staffed all day, sells all ticket types and has a carpark.

The station includes toilets, indoor seating and snack vending machines. In the mornings there is an on-platform coffee seller and a newspaper kiosk (open to about 9am). If you look south from the station (towards the Buckley Street level crossing), you can see a building that, due to a curve in the tracks and the positioning of the overhead lines, looks remarkably like an oncoming tram.

Layout

The ticket office is on the island platform, as are two ticket machines.

Northbound trains normally arrive on the western side of the island platform, while citybound trains normally arrive on the eastern side of the island platform. The third platform, on the eastern side of the station, is generally unused. The pedestrian subway was previously prone to flooding, but that problem has been corrected in all but the heaviest downpours now. There is another subway on the north side of the station, but it doesn't allow access to any platforms, merely connecting Rose Street to Russell Street.

Other public transport links

A number of bus lines connect with Essendon station. The 465 and 468 depart from Rose Street on the west side of the station, and in the evening peek seem to reliably match up with northbound trains, however they stop running a little after 20:00. The 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 483, 501, 503 and 510 depart from Russell Street on the east side of the station.

The number 59 tram has a stop 190 meters to the east of Essendon station.

History

The first passenger line to Essendon opened in October 1860. The service was closed in July 1864, before reopening under government ownership in 1871. In 1878 a new station was constructed on the present site. Passenger subways and footbridges were added in 1886. The centre platform and station building were added in 1909, following an increase in Essendon's population.

Essendon Railway Station is registered with the Victorian Heritage Register .