COBURG STATION

Coburg Station is part of the Victorian government’s Big Build program to do away with level crossings on the roads of suburban Melbourne. The railway in Melbourne was built well before cars were a big thing. It’s great having trains that reach out to the suburbs but where those railways cross streets, you end up needing a level crossing to hold back traffic while the train rolls by. These crossings cause massive congestion, especially during peak hours when both road and rail traffic at their busiest.

The Victorian government’s solution is an infrastructure project – The Big Build – part of which incorporates doing work to both road and rail to stop them intersecting one another.

In many cases, that’s meant elevating the train line so that it goes over the road. Such is the case at the new Coburg station.

Coburg Station was designed by Wood Marsh, and opened in 2023. Elevating the railway over both Coburg and Moreland stations opened up 22 hectares of public land, which has now been repurposed for community recreation.

Coburg Station presents as a civic gesture drawing abstract references to the formal language of classical architecture. Decorative features such as friezes and architrave details adorn the exterior. The hexagonal reliefs on the pre-cast elements animate the façade throughout the day, contributing to the station’s dynamic appearance. On the east and west elevations, the station features grand arched windows as a nod to two well-known buildings of Melbourne: Flinders Street Station and The National Gallery of Victoria. These windows pay homage to their civic architectural language.