Sunshine railway station, Melbourne


Sunshine railway station is located on the Sunbury line, in Victoria, Australia. Originally named Braybrook Junction for the convergence of the major railways from central Melbourne to Ballarat and Bendigo, it was renamed when the suburb of Sunshine which it serves took its name from the nearby Sunshine Harvester Works. With the expansion of the railway network in Melbourne's west, Sunshine grew in importance, with cross-suburban goods routes constructed to Newport and from the adjacent Albion to Jacana. From the mid-20th century it became an interchange for the main interstate routes to South Australia and New South Wales when the through line from Melbourne to Sydney was completed, although the main line to Adelaide was later diverted. In the early 21st century, the station was demolished and reconstructed to serve the diversion of the main passenger route to Geelong and beyond. It has been identified as a possible route for a future line to Melbourne Airport and as an interchange for the orbital Suburban Rail Loop.
Today, Sunshine is served by Metro Trains services on the Sunbury line, and V/Line services on the Geelong and Ballarat lines. Bendigo services and freight trains to northern Victoria and towards Sydney also pass through the station. A large bus interchange at the station is a hub for surrounding suburbs.

History

Sunshine station opened on 7 September 1885 as Braybrook Junction. It was renamed Sunshine on 15 July 1907.

19th century

The Melbourne & Murray River Railway, originating from Spencer Street station, was built in the late 1850s, from Footscray station to Sunbury and Bendigo, however, no station was built at that time on the current site; the closest station was Albion & Darlington, on the site of the current Albion station.
In 1885, the Serviceton line from Melbourne to Ballarat, via Bacchus Marsh, was built, branching off from the Bendigo line, and a station at the junction of the two lines was built. The station opened on 7 September 1885, as Braybrook Junction, named such as it was at the junction of the two lines, and was within the Shire of Braybrook.
In 1887, the Sunshine – Newport line, connecting the new station at Braybrook Junction to Newport and Williamstown, Victoria's major cargo port at the time, was opened.

20th century

In 1907, Braybrook Junction station was renamed Sunshine, when Hugh McKay moved his Sunshine Harvester Works adjacent to the station. On 20 April 1908, Sunshine was the scene of the worst train crash in Victorian railway history, the Sunshine train disaster.
The Albion – Jacana line opened in 1929, connecting Sunshine station with the North East line, allowing freight trains to avoid the steeper grades and suburban traffic on the suburban line between North Melbourne, Essendon and Broadmeadows.
The road level crossing at Sunshine was removed when grade separation was carried out in 1961. The works took place as part of the project to construct a standard gauge line from Sydney to Melbourne. Boom barriers were provided at the nearby former Anderson Road level crossing, on the Bendigo line, in the same year.
A fourth platform was opened in January 1963, on the adjacent Melbourne – Sydney standard gauge line, to enable passengers to transfer between the interstate Sydney and Adelaide expresses. In 1965, control of signals at Albion station was transferred to the signal box at Sunshine. Boom barriers were provided at the nearby former Anderson Road level crossing, on the Ballarat line, in 1977.
On 5 February 1985, Harris trailer carriage 830T was destroyed by fire, in a vandalism attack, whist stabled in the former down siding.
The sidings leading to Massey Ferguson were booked out of use in 1988, with the lead to the sidings, which crossed the standard gauge line, was removed in February of the same year.
Sunshine was categorised as a Premium station on 26 July 1996.

21st century

From 2012-2014, the station was rebuilt as part of the Regional Rail Link project. Works included:
The completed station was opened to the public on 28 April 2014.
The standalone signal box to the north of the station, commissioned in 1914, was closed in 2016 and its control of the Sunshine and Albion areas transferred to Metrol. Construction commenced in early 2020 on a new signal control centre south of the station, which will share control of the Sunshine–Dandenong corridor with an existing facility at Dandenong after completion of the Metro Tunnel.
On July 22, 2018, the Victorian state government announced that the Melbourne Airport rail link will be funded with state and commonwealth money and that it will run from the Melbourne CBD to Melbourne Airport via Sunshine station. As part of this project, a new "super hub" will be built at Sunshine station for passengers transferring between V/Line services and the airport trains. Construction is planned to begin by 2022.

Facilities, platforms and services

Sunshine has two side platforms and a centre island platform. Access is provided to the platforms using stairs, lifts and ramps from an overhead footbridge and concourse, which features a customer service window, an enclosed waiting room and toilets. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Sunbury line and V/Line Ballarat and Geelong services.
Platform 1:
Platform 2:
Platform 3:
Platform 4:
The former signal box north of platforms 2 and 3 is one of the largest surviving examples of a tappet and lever frame box on the Victorian network, having once housed 80 levers. Although mechanical signalling was replaced with electronic interlocking before the box was finally taken out of service, it remains relatively intact as an example of Victorian Railways signal box architecture.

Sunshine bus interchange

There are 16 bus services that use the bus interchange at Sunshine station.
CDC Melbourne operates three routes via Sunshine station:
Sita Buslines operates seven routes to and from Sunshine station:
Transdev Melbourne operates four routes via Sunshine station:
SmartBus operates one route via Sunshine station:
Dysons operates one route via Sunshine station: