Box Hill railway station, Melbourne

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Box Hill
Station information

Code	BOX
Distance from Flinders St	14.9 km
Line	Belgrave, Lilydale
Number of platforms	4 (3 in use)
Number of tracks	3
Station status	Premium Station
Station facilities, connecting transport and timetables	Link
Melway map of station	Not available
Google map of station	Link
Zone location	2

Photo of Box Hill station platforms located under the Centro Box Hill shopping centre.

Box Hill railway station is on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines in Melbourne, Australia. It is located in the Box Hill Central (also known as Centro Box Hill) shopping centre near the corner of Whitehorse Road and Station Street. It connects with a major bus terminal, which is part of the same complex, and the 109 tram route. Box Hill station is located 14.9 km from Flinders Street Station in the centre of Melbourne.

1 History
2 Facilities
3 Calls for Upgrade
4 External links

[edit] History

The station first opened in 1882, when the railway line was extended from Camberwell to Lilydale. At the time, Box Hill was a separate town, with several hundred residents. In 1895, a large market was opened next to the station. On December 19, 1922, the section from Flinders Street to Box Hill was electrified, and this was continued to Ringwood the following month.

In the early 1980s, the Box Hill Central shopping centre was built over the top of the station, which was first lowered into a cutting. The new station was progressively opened between 1983 and 1985. The station was a meeting place for teenage gangs and drug dealers in the late 1980s. Reports surfaced of numerous thefts, bashings and vandalism. This continued well into the 1990s. A large Chinese immigrant community now occupies several shops and market stores in the complex. However Box Hill station's reputation is still considered undesirable by community groups and young students.

[edit] Facilities

The station has three platforms, with one central island platform, and a third that is used at peak times. The station has an unused (and trackless) fourth platform (platform 1), used temporarily while the current station was being built and provided for possible future use, although a McDonalds Restaurant has since opened over its entrance. Box Hill has been a premium station since 1996, and as such, is staffed from first to last train and is in Metcard Zone 2. The Lilydale/Belgrave line changes from a triple to a double track at Box Hill.

[edit] Calls for Upgrade

After a series of events, including faulty escalators, a once off (though none the less fatal) stabbing, along with the closure of a bingo centre (located alongside the bus terminal) on safety grounds, the community has been making calls for an upgrade. The upgrades calls are seeking a full refurbishment and redesign) of the railway station and adjoining bus terminal to make it safer, improve integration (currently to get between trains and buses requires two sets of escalators and a layer of shops) and to make it more pleasant by improving the overall amenity. The upgrade call is supported by Anna Burke, Federal MP (ALP) for Chisholm, as well as Robert Clark, State MP (Liberal) for Box Hill and the Public Transport Users Association.