Upfield Railway Line - History

History

The line from North Melbourne to Coburg opened in September 1884, and in October 1889 it was extended to Somerton. Meanwhile, duplication had already started, being provided to Royal Park in September 1888, to South Brunswick (Jewell) in May 1889, Brunswick to Coburg in December 1891, and South Brunswick to Brunswick in August 1892.

Coburg to Somerton closed in July 1903, but reopened as far as Fawkner station in December 1906, for funeral trains only, in conjunction with the opening of Fawkner Cemetery adjacent to the station. Full services were extended to Fawkner in 1915.

In December 1920 the line was electrified, then in March 1928, the section from Fawkner to Somerton reopened with passenger services provided by an AEC railmotor connecting with electric trains at Fawkner.

North Melbourne to Macaulay was converted to automatic signalling in June 1928, but the rest of the line remained as Double Line Block and Staff and Ticket until more recent times.

In May 1956, Fawkner to Somerton was again closed, but only three years later, Upfield to Somerton reopened (in July 1959) for goods trains, and on the same date Coburg to Fawkner was duplicated. The following month, Fawkner to Upfield was reopened and electrified, to cater for workers to and from the new Ford factory next to the station. Only one train each way was provided, although a second train was added the following month. Shortly before this, however, (in September 1958), Sunday evening services after 6 p.m. were withdrawn, being replaced by rail tickets being accepted on adjacent tram routes, particularly the North Coburg line, and, for the outer end of the railway line, a bus service connecting with trams at North Coburg. In June 1971, this arrangement was extended to apply for the whole of Sundays, and in October 1981, it was further extended to include services after 7:30 p.m. on Mondays to Saturdays.

In January 1963 Somerton to the Ford factory at Upfield was converted to dual gauge, one year after the North East standard gauge line opened, and in October 1968 Upfield to Somerton was converted to Electric Staff working.

Automatic signalling crept a little further along the line, with Royal Park to Jewell being converted in August 1971 and Macaulay to Royal Park in April 1972.

Proposals to convert the line to light rail (to replace the parallel tram line) or a freeway were finally put to rest in April 1995 when it was announced that $23 million would be spent upgrading the line. This work included the provision of power signalling for the rest of the line, and boomgates at all level crossings, except for a few crossings that would be closed instead. Many of the level crossings at this time were still under the control of gate keepers who opened and closed the gates manually for every train.

Automatic signalling extended from Jewell to Brunswick in September 1998, Moreland to Batman in October, and Batman to Upfield in November. This last section coincided with extension of duplication from Fawkner to Gowrie.