Mernda railway station

Mernda railway station is a station currently under construction on the South Morang line in Victoria, Australia. It will serve the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Mernda with a scheduled opening date of 2019.^[1] A railway station previously existed in Mernda between 1889 and 1959 as part of the Whittlesea line.

History

The station opened in December 1889 as South Yan Yean, being renamed Mernda in December 1913.^[2]

Mernda station operated until the closure of the line beyond Lalor station in 1959, following the electrification of the line as far as Lalor. Epping station was re-opened in the 1960s with the electrification of that section of the line. The remaining section of track from Epping to Whittlesea was dismantled in the 1970s, although the former right-of-way remained intact. All that can be seen of Mernda station now is the degraded platform, which is overgrown with exotic vegetation, including a Peppercorn tree. The station-master's house was moved to the Mernda Recreation Reserve and still serves as clubrooms for the Mernda Football and Cricket Clubs.

Restoration of the railway to Mernda was identified as a goal in the Strategic Transportation Study undertaken by the City of Whittlesea in 2002.

The City of Whittlesea has forecast that the population in Mernda and Doreen will be 40,000 by that time. The South Morang and Mernda Rail Alliance, which was successful in lobbying the state government to fulfill its promise of reinstating the rail line to South Morang, is now actively lobbying the government to commit to reinstating the line to Mernda.^[3] In February 2016, the government announced the station would reopen in 2019.^[4]

The Victorian State Government announced in its 2016–2017 budget funding to provide 8 km of duplicated track between South Morang and Mernda stations, a rebuilt station at Mernda with 1,000 carparking spaces, and an additional station to be built near Marymede Catholic College.^[5]

References