Lilydale railway station

Lilydale station opened as an extension of the line from Camberwell, which had been extended from Hawthorn in April 1882. The fare from Melbourne was 3s 6d (First Class) and 2s 6d (Second Class), however a letter-writer to The Age newspaper, 'Cyclops'[1] said with the fare to Box Hill being only 9d (First Class) at those prices he expected there to soon be a line of stage coaches waiting to take people to Lillydale with the cost effectively being a check on the growth of the town.

Until it was truncated at Lilydale in 1980, the line continued to Healesville. The line between Yarra Glen and Healesville is now used by the Yarra Valley Railway. The track from Lilydale to Yarra Glen, including Coldstream and Yering, is now being repurposed as a rail trail.[3] The Yarra Valley Railway originally leased the entire line. However, they discontinued their lease on the section from Lilydale to Yarra Glen, because of the bad condition of the bridges in that section. The line between Lilydale and Coldstream was officially booked out of service on 10 December 1991.[2]

Also branching off at Lilydale was the Warburton line. It opened in 1901, and closed on 1 August 1965. The track was removed in the early 1970s, as was the bridge over the Maroondah Highway. Most of the right-of-way is still intact, and has been turned into the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail. The exception to this is the part of the line approximately 800 metres beyond where it branched off at Lilydale. Mount Lilydale Mercy College currently leases this part of the line, which runs through its property. This is the only part of the former line that is currently obstructed.

Until 1967, a turntable existed at the station.[2]

Boom barriers replaced hand gates at the former Maroondah Highway level crossing, which was located at the Up end of the station, in 1985.[4] Also in 1985, a signal panel was provided at the station, which controlled Lilydale and Mooroolbark.[5] It was abolished in September 2021, with control transferred to Ringwood.[2]

On 29 November 1991, a Hitachi train set rolled away from the stabling yard for about 1.5km, towards Coldstream.[6][7] It crashed through a wired fence and traversed over the Beresford and Nelson Roads level crossings,[6][7] and was about to climb a hill when it rolled back 300 metres.[6] Police advised that only one of the four brakes on the train was engaged.[6][7] A train driver was suspended due to the incident.[6]

It was upgraded to a Premium Station on 31 July 1996.[8]

In 2015, the Level Crossing Removal Authority announced they were in the premlinary stages of planning the grade separation of the crossing at Maroondah Highway.[9] In 2019, the designs were revealed,[10] with work commencing in 2020 to have the level crossing removed by 2022. The chosen removal process was to raise the railway line above the level crossing.[11] As part of the plans, the current Lilydale station building remained where it was, as it is heritage listed.[10] The rail bridge on John Street was demolished, and the land between it and the level crossing will become an activity zone located underneath the station.[12] The rebuilt Lilydale station reopened on 19 November 2021.[13][14]

Lilydale has one island platform with two faces. It is serviced by Metro Trains' Lilydale line services.[15]

Platforms 1:

•  Lilydale line  all stations and limited stops services to and from Flinders Street and Ringwood

Platforms 2:

•  Lilydale line  all stations and limited stops services to and from Flinders Street and Ringwood

Martyrs Bus Service operates one route via Lilydale station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  683 : Chirnside Park Shopping Centre – Warburton[16]

McKenzie's Tourist Services operates three routes via Lilydale station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  684 : Eildon – Southern Cross station[17]
•  685 : to Healesville[18]
•  Night Bus   965 : to Lilydale station (Healesville Loop Service) (Saturday and Sunday mornings only)[19]

Ventura Bus Lines operates six routes via Lilydale station, under contract to Public Transport Victoria:

•  663 : to Belgrave station[20]
•  670 : Ringwood station – Box Hill Institute Lilydale Lakeside Campus[21]
•  677 : to Chirnside Park Shopping Centre[22]
•  679 : Chirnside Park Shopping Centre – Ringwood station[23]
•  680 : to Mooroolbark station[24]
•  FlexiRide Lilydale [25]

Mees Bus Lines run a V/Line Coach service from Mansfield to Melbourne via Lilydale station.[26]

• 
  Northbound view of former station building and platform in March 2019
• 
  Southbound view from Platform 2 in November 2021

• Melway map at street-directory.com.au