PROV image VPRS 12800/P0003, ADV 0478

We start off in the 1960s, when hand operated gates were still in place to separate motorists and trains.

PROV image VPRS 12800/P0001 H 2980

They remained in place until 1962, when they were replaced by boom barriers – activated automatically for citybound trains, and manually by the signal box for trains headed towards Upfield.

Google Street View 2014

In December 2014 the Victorian Government announced they would remove 50 level crossings around Melbourne, including the one on Bell Street in Coburg. By October 2018 elevating the railway line was the preferred solution, with contracts signed in October 2019, with early works starting in February 2020.

A three month shutdown of the Upfield line commenced in July 2020, to allow the construction of a 2.5 kilometre rail bridge, consisting of 268 L-beams, 53 crossheads and 49 precast piers, assembled by two 90-tonne gantry cranes. The boom gates were the first to go.

LXRA photo

With a full road closure in August allowing the bridge beams to be lifted into place over Bell Street.

LXRA photo

Trains returned to the Upfield line in November, with the new elevated Coburg station opening to passengers in December 2020.

Google Street View 2020

With the finishing touches – landscaping works – completed by August 2021.

A reverse view

Here is the opposite view of the 1962 scene, looking westbound along Bell Street in Coburg – PROV image VPRS 12800/P0001 H 2979.

And a platform related footnote

For many years Coburg was an oddity on the Melbourne suburban network – a single platform station located in the middle of a double track railway.

Weston Langford photo, 1989

Coburg station opened as the terminus of a single track railway from North Melbourne in 1884, the line being extended north to Somerton in 1889, and duplicated from the city in 1891.

It took until 1959 for the line north of Coburg to be duplicated, but only as far as Fawkner, and Coburg didn’t receive a second platform to serve it. Instead northbound trains would change onto the citybound track to use the platform on the east side, then cross back again before Batman station.

Victoria Railways signal diagram, 1972

A situation not rectified until 1995, when a second platform was built on the side of the disused goods yard.

Further reading

• Bell Street, Coburg – Level Crossing Removal Project
• Coburg Station – VicSig
• Upfield line signalling history – Andrew Waugh

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The inner suburbs of Fitzroy and Brunswick are shooting fish in a barrel – houses there have been unaffordable for average families for decades now.

We then see the northern expansion of gentrification – Northcote, Thornbury, Preston and most recently Reservoir – plus the very distinct ‘Pascoe Vale South’.

Melbourne’s west isn’t left out either – Yarraville gentrified decades ago, with those priced out and setting for West Footscray also able to pick up an Able and Game card.

And who is left out

Note the complete lack of suburbs from Melbourne’s east and south – the former is full of old money, the latter with fake tan and yoga pants.

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In August 2015 Public Transport Victoria announced the creation of a new bus service in Pascoe Vale:

Temporary Route 560 Bus
6 August 2015

A new Pascoe Vale bus service, Route 560, is being introduced on Saturday, 8 August so the community can continue to do their shopping locally.

With the local Coles supermarket relocating from Pascoe Vale to Sussex Street in Coburg North, it was identified that we needed a transport solution so the community can continue to do their grocery shopping.

The bus shuttle will operate between Pascoe Vale Station and the corner of Gaffney and Sussex Streets. From Pascoe Vale Station, the bus will depart from the existing Route 542 bus stop in Railway Parade, turn onto Gaffney Street, then travel along Cumberland Road, O’Hea Street, Sussex Street and terminate at the existing bus stops on Gaffney Street near the new Coles.

The bus service will operate every 40 minutes, 9.30am to 4pm, seven days a week.

The old supermarket was located in a small shopping centre at the corner of Gaffney Street and Cumberland Road.

While the new supermarket was just one kilometre to the east, at the corner of Gaffney and Sussex Streets.

Coles bought the site of the new supermarket in 2010:

Coles Group Property Developments bought the 17,500 square metre site at 180-196 Gaffney Street for $6.297 million in mid-2010.

The property was previously leased to fellow Wesfarmers subsidiary Bunnings but was vacant for about three years after Bunnings moved to elsewhere on Gaffney Street. The building then burnt down.

Then applied for planning permission in 2013

Coles plans to spend more than $21 million to open a shopping centre in Coburg to counter rival Woolworths in the area.

The development in Gaffney Street is expected to drain millions of dollars from its competitors but will likely come at the cost of closing at least one of Coles’ own outlets nearby.

Coles has applied for a zoning change and planning permission to build a $15 million mixed-use ”Neighbourhood Business and Retail Centre” on the corner of Gaffney and Sussex Streets.

The mooted project would include a full-line 4000-square-metre Coles supermarket, 1200 sq m of shops, 760 sq m of office space and a medical centre.

In an economic impact assessment tendered to Moreland council on behalf of Coles, MacroPlan Australia said the centre could expect to generate $33.3 million in sales a year and create about 230 jobs.
Approval for the development would mean Coles had three stores in the surrounding trade area, compared with one for Woolworths and one for IGA.

But the creation of the centre could lead to closure of the ageing Coles store next to the Coburg railway station, the report said.

MacroPlan found that store was ”under trading” due to negative perceptions on its former use as a Bi-Lo outlet and the ”high quality” Woolworths supermarket nearby.

A Coles spokeswoman said ”no decision” had been made about the future of the existing stores. ”It’s early days and the proposed plan to consolidate the two Coles stores located on Sydney Road and Waterfield Street is still under review,” she said.

In the end, the closure of the older Gaffney Street store was a given, but local residents weren’t happy when it was announced in 2014:

Pascoe Vale residents are upset at a plan to close their neighbourhood supermarket.

Lyn Belcher and Graeme Wilde are among shoppers voicing discontent with a Coles proposal to close the Gaffney St supermarket – near the corner of Cumberland Rd – and replace it with a First Choice Liquor outlet.

But Coles says its new supermarket, planned for the corner of Gaffney and Sussex streets, will serve the needs of the whole community.

Even Federal Member for Wills Kelvin Thomson got involved with the protest, writing a letter to Coles management.

The new Coles store at Coburg North opened on Saturday 9th August, 2015.

As for the new bus route

From what I can tell, the new route 560 bus was a result of local member Lizzie Blandthorn raising the issue with Minister for Transport Jacinta Allan, who then pushed Public Transport Victoria to make the required changes.

Craig on the Bus Australia forums also has more detail on the new bus route:

• The backstory behind route 560, and
• First day of route 560.

I’ve got to hand it to PTV – when they get pushed, they can turn around changes to the bus network very quickly!

On nearby supermarkets

Last week I blogged about supermarket chains poaching their own market share – the duplicated Coles stores in Coburg are just one example.

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