Rail Transport in Victoria - By Line

By Line

Victoria's first railway was a 4 km Victorian broad gauge line between the Melbourne (or City) Terminus (on the site of modern day Flinders Street Station) and Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), constructed by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company and opened in September 1854. Today, Melbourne's suburban railway network consists of 16 electrified lines, the central City Loop subway, and 200 stations, with a total length of 372 km of the electrified lines, operated by Metro Trains Melbourne under franchise to the Government of Victoria.

In Gippsland the Orbost line was constructed as an extension of suburban lines between 1877 and 1888 to Bairnsdale, and extended eastwards to Orbost in 1916. The line between Dandenong and Traralgon was electrified in 1954, but electrification was cut back progressively to Pakenham between 1987 and 2001. V/Line passenger trains now run as far as Bairnsdale.

The South Gippsland line was opened from Dandenong to Cranbourne, Leongatha and Port Albert between 1888 and 1892. A number of branch lines were also built, with almost all closed in stages between the early 1970s and 1994, except for part has since been electrified and re-opened as part of the suburban network, and between Nyora and Leongatha where the South Gippsland Tourist Railway operates heritage services.

The North East line originated from a suburban line to Essendon in 1860, being extended to Wodonga by 1873, connecting with the New South Wales Government Railways at Albury at a break-of-gauge in 1883. A standard gauge track was completed parallel with the broad gauge track from Albury to Melbourne in 1962. V/Line services operate along the broad gauge line, while the Melbourne-Sydney Countrylink XPT runs on the standard gauge.

The Shepparton line was built from Mangalore to Shepparton in 1880 and extended to the New South Wales Government Railways at Tocumwal at a break-of-gauge in 1908. V/Line passenger service run as far as Shepparton.

The Bendigo line was completed in 1862, with extensions were opened to Echuca in 1864, and Swan Hill in 1890, followed by a number of lines throughout the north-west corner of the state. Only these lines continue to see V/Line services, with other lines in the region only seeing freight traffic.

The main western line had its beginnings in the first railway line from Melbourne to Ballarat, the Geelong-Ballarat line that opened in 1862. The line extended from Ballarat to Ararat between 1874 and 1875, but it was not until 1889 that the direct line between Melbourne and Ballarat was opened, built from both ends in stages until they met at Ballan. Further branch lines followed to Portland and other western towns. The line formed the first interstate railway line in Australia, when it was extended to the South Australian Railways at Serviceton in 1887. Up until the 1990s the Ballarat line was on the main route between Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as The Overland services to Adelaide, until the One Nation Program rerouted the main interstate line via Geelong and Maroona as standard gauge.

The Port Fairy line was started when the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company opened the Geelong line to Newport in 1857, being extended to Spencer Street Station in 1859. The line was taken over by Victorian Railways in 1860 and a line was opened from Geelong to Ballarat in 1862, and later extended south-east from 1876, reaching Warrnambool and Port Fairy in 1890. Branch lines also existed to Queenscliff, Beech Forest, and a number of other towns.