Middle Park light rail station
Middle Park is a light rail station on the former St Kilda railway line, in the Melbourne suburb of Middle Park, on the corner of Canterbury Road and Armstrong Street. A pair of low-level side platforms now serve route 96 trams running on a light rail line. Other nearby light rail stops are at Fraser Street and Wright Street. Those and a number of other stops were added after the line was converted to light rail.
Middle Park | ||||||||||||||||||
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| PTV tram stop | ||||||||||||||||||
 Middle Park light rail station, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| General information | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Albert Park/Middle Park Victoria 3206 Australia | |||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 37°50′59″S 144°57′56″E | |||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | VicTrack | |||||||||||||||||
| Operated by | Yarra Trams | |||||||||||||||||
| Line(s) | St Kilda | |||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 (2 side) | |||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||||||
| Structure type | At grade | |||||||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Operational | |||||||||||||||||
| Station code | 130 MPK (former) | |||||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | Myki Zone 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 2 July 1883 | |||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 1 August 1987 | |||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 21 November 1987 | |||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | 600 V DC overhead | |||||||||||||||||
| Previous names | Middle Park railway station | |||||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||||
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History
Middle Park station opened in 1883, well after the line through it opened in 1857.[1] The St Kilda railway line closed in 1987, and was converted to light rail, with the route 96 tram now running past the former station. The last train service ran on 31 July 1987, and the light rail service was officially commissioned on 21 November of that year.[2] The high-level platforms used by trains were demolished to make way for the construction of lower-level platforms, but the station building remained at the original level.
In 2006, the building was redeveloped as a café called Mart 130, but it was gutted by fire on 19 February 2018,[3] and later demolished. It has since been rebuilt and, as of 2022, houses the For Change Co. café[4] It was not the first time fire had destroyed the station: a fire in July 1978 also gutted the station building.[5]
Tram services
Yarra Trams operates one route via Middle Park station:
References
- "Middle Park". VICSIG - Infrastructure. vicsig.net. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
- Chris Banger (March 1997). "Rail Passenger Service Withdrawals Since 1960". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 77–82.
- Simonis, Aneeka (20 February 2018). "Middle Park railway cafe destroyed by fire". Herald Sun. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
- Webb, Carolyn (15 August 2021). "All aboard for coffee with a conscience at youth charity's station cafe". The Age. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
- "Works". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society. December 1979. p. 288.
- "96 East Brunswick - St Kilda Beach". Public Transport Victoria.