![Melbourne-freight-network-map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Melbourne-freight-network-map.png)
The
rail network
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, has a significant number of railway lines and yards serving freight traffic.
Rail transport in Victoria
Rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 2,357 km of Victorian broad gauge () lines, and 1,912 km of standard g ...
is heavily focused on Melbourne, and, as a consequence, much of the state's rail freight passes through the metropolitan network.
The lines are of two
gauges: and . Because the standard gauge lines were developed to facilitate interstate freight decades after the establishment of the original broad gauge network, they are used almost exclusively by freight services; while some broad gauge lines are used exclusively for freight, but many are shared with the suburban and regional passenger networks operated by
Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (60% ...
and
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...
respectively.
Although a limited number of
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
freight services historically operated in the metropolitan area, a lack of
electrical infrastructure on Victorian mainlines means that no freight services in Melbourne now use
electric traction
A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply.
Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), ele ...
, despite some services operating over the electrified passenger network.
Fixed infrastructure, such as
track
Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...
,
signals
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
and
yards
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...
, is largely owned, operated and maintained by government agencies or in the metro area a franchisee to the government. However, all freight services are run by private operators, and some
sidings and
intermodal facilities are under their control.
Ownership and operators
![Middle-footscray-telephoto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Middle-footscray-telephoto.jpg)
Freight traffic in Victoria is divided into two main segments: interstate freight on
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
, and intrastate freight on
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
.
All track is owned by
VicTrack
VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Government of Victoria, Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the ...
, but is leased to and managed by differing organisations. The broad gauge lines were leased to
Freight Victoria
Freight Australia was an Australian railway company that purchased the V/Line Freight business from the Government of Victoria in 1999. Initially known as Freight Victoria, it operated rail freight services and controlled non-urban rail track in ...
in 1999 as part of the privatisation of the rail network.
Pacific National
Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses.
History
In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New ...
bought Freight Australia in August 2004 and in May 2007 the lease and management of the track was sold to
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...
. The interstate standard gauge lines are leased and managed by the
Australian Rail Track Corporation
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation.
It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations.
...
.
Freight terminals are mainly leased from VicTrack or owned outright by private operators. There are also a number of 'common user' terminals managed by VicTrack, which are open to any freight operator.
On the broad gauge, the main freight operator is Pacific National, as well as
Qube Logistics
Qube Holdings is a diversified logistics and infrastructure company in Australia.
History
In July 2006, following the takeover of Patrick Corporation by Toll Holdings, Chris Corrigan and some executives departed and teamed with Kaplan Funds Man ...
and
Southern Shorthaul Railroad
Southern Shorthaul Railroad is an Australian rail freight services operator in New South Wales and Victoria. The company also provides workshop services, such as rolling stock manufacturing and wagon and locomotive maintenance.
History
South ...
. On the standard gauge, operations are more varied, with trains run by the aforementioned operators, as well as
SCT Logistics
SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
History
SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tran ...
.
Services
Standard gauge
The heaviest freight traffic is
intermodal services carrying
shipping containers
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, and then on to the rest of the country. These services operate from the South Dynon, North Dynon,
Appleton Dock
Appleton Dock is an international shipping facility in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was opened in about 1956 by the Melbourne Harbor Trust, and is named after MHT commissioner William Thomas Appleton (1859-1930), who was a staunch advocat ...
, and
Swanson Dock
Swanson Dock is an international shipping facility in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was constructed between 1966 and 1972 by the Melbourne Harbor Trust, leading off the north bank of the Yarra River, to alleviate congestion in the port and p ...
terminals.
Steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
trains for
OneSteel
Arrium was an Australian mining and materials company, employing nearly 10,000 workers,
that went into voluntary administration in 2016 with debts of more than $2 billion. In 2017 it was acquired by British-owned Liberty House Group.
Hist ...
and
BlueScope
BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002.
History
BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueScope ...
operate from their mills in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
and
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, to the Melbourne Steel Terminal in the inner city, where some of the
cargo
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...
is transferred to broad gauge trains. Vanload freight to Adelaide and
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
is carried by trains operated by
SCT Logistics
SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
History
SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tran ...
from their own terminal in
Laverton. Finally,
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
trains operate into Melbourne, discharging at the Appleton Dock export terminal at the
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phill ...
.
Broad gauge
Broad gauge freight traffic has declined since the purchase of Freight Victoria by Pacific National. Notable services running through Melbourne include:
* Long Island goods: carries steel products between the BlueScope works at Long Island on the
Stony Point line and the Melbourne Steel Terminal. Typically runs four services per day, down to Long Island around midday and midnight, and up shortly before the first passenger service of the morning and in the mid-afternoon.
* Maryvale paper train: runs from the terminal at Dynon and carries
containerised
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
products to and from the
Australian Paper mill at Maryvale.
*
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
and
Sunshine
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when th ...
grain trains: run from
Tottenham
Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
Yard to the respective
silo
A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...
s.
* Apex train: carries
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...
products from the Apex quarries at
Kilmore East
Kilmore East is a locality in the Australian state of Victoria, 65 kilometres north of Melbourne. At the , Kilmore East had a population of 417.
Kilmore East was occupied for European use by John Green, a neighboring pastoralist on the Kilmore ...
to users at
Westall and
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
.
*
Warrnambool
Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...
goods train: carries containerised goods, primarily
milk powder
Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...
,
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
ingots and refrigerated
meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
, from
Dennington
Dennington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is north of Framlingham and north-east of Ipswich in the east of the county. It lies along the A1120 road around west of the road's junction with the main A12 ro ...
to Dynon for export from the
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phill ...
.
*
Mildura
Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...
''
Fruit Flyer'' goods train: carries containerised goods, primarily
agricultural produce
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
, from
Merbein
Merbein is a town just north of Mildura, Victoria, in the Sunraysia region of Australia. It is on the Calder Highway between Mildura and the Murray River crossing at the Abbotsford Bridge to Curlwaa. At the , the town had a population of 1,981. ...
to Dynon for export from the Port of Melbourne.
*
Tocumwal
Tocumwal ( ) is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Berrigan Shire local government area, near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River, north of the city of Melbourne. ...
goods train: carries containerised goods, primarily agricultural produce, from Tocumwal to Dynon for export from the Port of Melbourne.
Dedicated lines
![Lyndhurst-cement-train-newport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Lyndhurst-cement-train-newport.jpg)
On the freight rail network there are a number of dedicated lines for freight traffic. These lines link the outer suburbs of Melbourne to the various freight terminals in the inner suburbs. The first of these lines was built in 1887, the last was built in 1929.
The only passenger traffic using these lines are V/Line services to
Albury
Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...
, the less frequent
NSW TrainLink
NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...
XPT to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, and
Great Southern Rail's ''
The Overland
''The Overland'' is an Australian passenger train service between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the ''Adelaide Express'', known by South Australians as the ''Melb ...
'', as well as
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...
services in times of disruptions to normal services. The interfaces between the freight and passenger networks are limited, meaning delays to one do not affect another.
Newport to Sunshine line
The
Newport to Sunshine line was opened on 24 September 1887 to permit freight trains from the western and northern areas of Victoria to access the then-important port at
Williamstown. in length,
it is also known as the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
Loop line, for the intermediate
signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
on the line. Passenger platforms have never been provided along the line.
Between
Newport and Brooklyn the line was provided with bidirectional
double track
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
Overview
In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...
lines. By the 1930s, a number of
private sidings were opened off the line to serve adjacent industries. Today the majority of them have closed. In 1995, the east line was converted to
dual gauge
In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...
as part of the standardisation of the railway between Melbourne and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
.
Albion to Jacana line
The
Albion to Jacana line opened on 1 July 1929 to allow freight trains to avoid the steeper
grades
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also r ...
and busy suburban traffic on the
Broadmeadows line via
Essendon Essendon may refer to:
Australia
*Electoral district of Essendon
*Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington
*Essendon, Victoria
**Essendon railway station
**Essendon Airport
*Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League
United King ...
. Built as double track, two major steel
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
s were required to cross the
Maribyrnong River
The Maribyrnong River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the northwestern suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria.
Course
The Maribyrnong River draws its headwaters from near ...
and
Moonee Ponds Creek
Moonee is a coastal suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the local government area.
Moonee is largely unpopulated, with nearly all of its land area being part of the Munmorah State Conservation Area. ...
valleys. In 1962, the east line was converted to standard gauge as part of the
Melbourne to Sydney gauge standardisation project.
[
]
South Kensington to West Footscray line
The South Kensington-West Footscray railway line opened on 21 October 1928 to permit freight trains to avoid Footscray station through the construction of the Bunbury Street tunnel underneath Footscray and additional tracks though West Footscray.[
Built as double track, both lines were converted to dual gauge in 1962 as part of the Melbourne to ]Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
gauge standardisation project. The city end of the line connects to the various freight terminals at the Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phill ...
, and the former Melbourne Yard. The country end is connected to Tottenham Yard, as well as the Newport to Sunshine and Albion to Jacana freight lines.
North East line
The North East line
The North East MRT line (NEL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. Operated by SBS Transit, it is the shortest MRT line at . The line runs from HarbourFront station in southern Singapore to Punggol station in the no ...
links Melbourne to Albury
Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...
, and then onto the rest of the standard gauge network across Australia. From Broadmeadows
Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hume Local government areas of Victoria, local ...
, the line runs parallel to the Seymour line. Constructed from the late 1950s to eliminate the break-of-gauge
With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...
at Albury for Melbourne to Sydney rail traffic, the first standard gauge freight in Victoria ran on this line on 3 January 1963.[ Once traversed by the '']Intercapital Daylight
The Inter-Capital Daylight was a passenger train that operated between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne from March 1956 until August 1991.
History
Until April 1962, the line between Sydney and Albury was of a different gau ...
'', ''Southern Aurora
The ''Southern Aurora'' was an overnight express passenger train that operated between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. First-class throughout, including the dining facilities, the ''Southern Aurora'' featured all-sleeper ...
'' and ''Spirit of Progress
The ''Spirit of Progress'' was the premier express passenger train on the Victorian Railways in Australia, running from Melbourne to the New South Wales border at Albury, and later through to Sydney.
Route
From its introduction in November 1 ...
'', today the only non-freight service to operate on this line are the NSW TrainLink
NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...
XPT to Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
and V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...
passenger services to Albury
Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...
.
Western standard gauge line
The Western standard gauge line
The Western standard gauge railway line is a standard-gauge railway line in western Victoria, Australia. Completed in 1995, it forms part of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor and serves as the principal interstate rail link between Victori ...
was completed in 1995, linking Melbourne to Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and replacing the former broad gauge route. The project was funded as part of the Federal Government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
One Nation project.
The line runs along the Newport to Sunshine line, then parallel to the Geelong line to North Shore, onto dual gauge
In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...
tracks towards Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
, then onto its own towards Ararat. From here, the original interstate route was gauge converted. The only passenger service on this line is the twice weekly Great Southern Railway ''The Overland
''The Overland'' is an Australian passenger train service between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the ''Adelaide Express'', known by South Australians as the ''Melb ...
''.
Shared lines
Where dedicated lines do not exist, intrastate broad gauge freight trains are required to share tracks with Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (60% ...
suburban and V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...
regional services. Freight trains are timetabled off-peak around passenger services, and are often required to wait at freight terminals if they miss their assigned time. Regularly used lines include:
* Werribee lines towards Melbourne, until Newport
*Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
and Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
/ Sunbury lines and towards Melbourne, until Sunshine
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when th ...
*Albury
Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...
/ Craigieburn lines towards Melbourne, until Broadmeadows
Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hume Local government areas of Victoria, local ...
*Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people.
The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at Ju ...
/ Pakenham lines for the entire length to Flinders Street
*Frankston line
The Frankston railway line is a 42.7 km commuter rail passenger train service in Melbourne, Victoria. It operates between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Frankston through the south-eastern suburbs includi ...
for the entire length to Flinders Street, and the Stony Point line from Long Island Junction
In the inner city, freight trains are routed via the westernmost lines at Southern Cross station
Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central busi ...
, the double track (newest) of the Flinders Street Viaduct
The Flinders Street Viaduct is a railway bridge in Melbourne, Australia. Made up of six tracks of varying ages, it links Flinders Street station to Southern Cross station and forms the main link between the eastern and western parts of the Victo ...
, and the southern tracks at Flinders Street station
Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders Street, Melbourne, Flinders and Swanston Street, Swanston streets in the Melbourne city centre, central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria (Austral ...
.
Terminals and yards
The majority of the rail terminals and yards are clustered about the Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phill ...
and Dynon. A number of inland port
An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port.
Examples
The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...
s have also been established in outer suburbs, with shuttle trains running from the inner city.
Dynon
Freight terminals in the Dynon area were established from the 1950s on reclaimed swamplands between the CBD and Footscray.
The North Dynon sidings are located next to South Kensington station, and form a common user terminal. Presently, Qube
QUBE was an experimental two-way, multi-programmed cable television system that played a significant role in the history of American interactive television. It was launched in Columbus, Ohio, on December 1, 1977. Highly publicized as a revolution ...
trains operate from it. The terminal includes both broad gauge and standard gauge tracks.
The South Dynon complex is the main intermodal container facility in Melbourne. Located between Footscray and Dynon Roads, it is provided with standard gauge access, and is operated by Pacific National.
Port of Melbourne
Sidings serve both Swanson Dock
Swanson Dock is an international shipping facility in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was constructed between 1966 and 1972 by the Melbourne Harbor Trust, leading off the north bank of the Yarra River, to alleviate congestion in the port and p ...
east and west, permitting the transfer of shipping containers
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
between sea and rail transport. Originally provided in the 1960s with the development of the port, they were later removed and not restored until 2003, when they became a 1500 metre long siding. Rail sidings at Appleton Dock
Appleton Dock is an international shipping facility in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was opened in about 1956 by the Melbourne Harbor Trust, and is named after MHT commissioner William Thomas Appleton (1859-1930), who was a staunch advocat ...
reopened in 2000 to serve a new export grain terminal at the port. Dual gauge access is provided to the majority of sidings in the area.
The Westgate Ports sidings at Victoria Dock were opened in October 2009, with two siding tracks (650 and 580 metres long) and a run-around track. The sidings handles trains for Australian Paper at Maryvale in Gippsland
Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...
, carrying containerised paper reel
A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the en ...
s.
The Webb Dock railway line opened on 27 February 1986 to link Webb Dock
Webb Dock is a port facility at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne, Victoria constructed progressively from 1960, by dredging and land fill at the mouth of the Yarra River. It includes roll-on/roll-off facilities handling motor vehicle import and expor ...
with the West Melbourne rail yards but was decommissioned in 1992 due to its impractically sharp bends and to enable the development of Docklands. The Yarra River bridge crossing on the rail link was reused as a pedestrian bridge as part of Docklands precinct.
Two "Railcams" were installed by Railpage during April 2011 to digitally record all train movements in and out of the Port of Melbourne. Details on the project can be foun
Bunbury Street Railcam Project
The cameras are available on the internet a
Bunbury Street Railcam
where a live video feed exists. Regular updates and images can be found online a
Bunbury Street Railcam #2
Melbourne Steel Terminal
The Melbourne Steel Terminal was a yard used for the transfer of steel products from standard gauge interstate trains to broad gauge trains running to the Bluescope Steel works at Long Island on the Stony Point line. Originally equipped with overhead cranes, the terminal was located at E-Gate between Footscray Road and North Melbourne. The Melbourne Steel Terminal was closed in 2015 and its functions incorporated into the South Dynon terminal.
Canal Yard
The Canal Yard or Contrans sidings were constructed by Thomas Nationwide Transport
Thomas Nationwide Transport, commonly known by its TNT acronym, and in its later years as TNT Limited, was an Australian logistics and transport company. Founded in 1946, it was taken over by KPN in 1996 and in 1998 became part of the TNT Pos ...
(TNT) in the 1960s for the transfer of containers between gauges. It is now used as a storage and maintenance yard by a number of small operators including El Zorro.
Melbourne Yard
Melbourne Yard is located to the west of the passenger lines from Southern Cross station
Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central busi ...
to North Melbourne
North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...
and South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
. It was the original freight terminal when railways were established in Victoria. Over the years the sidings spread westward towards the docks, and a number of goods sheds were erected for the unloading of freight. Congestion in the yard was reduced by the opening of Tottenham Yard in the 1920s, for the sorting of trains that were not bound for Melbourne or the eastern part of Victoria.
During the 1960s Melbourne Yard was rearranged for greater efficiency, with a hump yard
A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...
opened on 9 December 1970 to assist in the marshalling of wagons.[ Increased ]containerisation
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...
of freight traffic left the yard outdated, with the Dynon complex of terminals taking over the freight task, with the hump yard last used in September 1987.
The Melbourne Docklands
Docklands, also known as Melbourne Docklands, is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Docklands recorded a population ...
and Docklands Stadium
Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was ...
developments of the 1990s removed most of the sidings and goods sheds to the west of Southern Cross station
Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central busi ...
. Only historic goods sheds, such as the 1889 No 2 Goods Shed
No. 2 Goods Shed is a large railway freight shed in the former Spencer Street rail yards off Flinders Street Extension, Melbourne, Australia. It was constructed in 1889, originally called 'A Goods Shed', and at the time was the longest single bui ...
, were retained, To the north of Dudley Street, a number of sidings still remain for the stabling of trains, as does the West Tower signal box.
Tottenham Yard
The land for Tottenham Yard was acquired by the Victorian Railways in 1912 as a location to dump soil and building material removed from the grade separation
In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...
project between South Yarra
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popul ...
and Caulfield stations.
Tottenham Yard was opened in the western suburb of Tottenham
Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
from the 1920s as part of a project to improve freight movement in Victoria. The majority of freight traffic in the state was from the north or western areas, and was being remarshalled into trains at Melbourne Yard. This caused inefficiencies with the large number of trains needing to enter the Melbourne city, so the yard was opened for the marshalling of trains before they were sent to Melbourne Yard.
Laid with broad gauge trackage, Tottenham is a gravitational yard with a slight slope from the Sunshine end towards the city. The yard consists of four groups of sidings: arrival roads, two groups of classification roads, and departure tracks. Heavy usage of the yard ended with the gauge conversion of the main line to Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in 1995, and with the decline of broad gauge traffic in general, large areas of the yard are now used for wagon storage. Tottenham station is located to the south of the yard.
SCT Laverton
SCT Logistics
SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
History
SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tran ...
established a terminal at Laverton on the Western standard gauge line
The Western standard gauge railway line is a standard-gauge railway line in western Victoria, Australia. Completed in 1995, it forms part of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor and serves as the principal interstate rail link between Victori ...
in the 1990s for the use of vanload freight trains operated by the company. Provided with a large number of sidings as well as both refrigerated and non-refrigerated warehouse space, trains from the terminal operate to Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
.
CRT Altona
The CRT Group
CRT Group is an intermodal transport company in Australia. It was founded in 1954 as Colin Rees Transport, a taxi truck company in Sydney. In 1981 it became known as the CRT Group, and by the time of its acquisition by QR National in June 2005 ...
established a terminal at Altona on the Western standard gauge line in the 1990s for the use of their company. The company was later acquired by QR National, and subsequently by Qube
QUBE was an experimental two-way, multi-programmed cable television system that played a significant role in the history of American interactive television. It was launched in Columbus, Ohio, on December 1, 1977. Highly publicized as a revolution ...
.
Miscellaneous
A number of other railway stations have freight facilities still in use:
* Somerton Somerton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Somerton, New South Wales
* Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb
** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach
* Somerton, Victoria ...
* Lyndhurst
* Westall
* Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
Former services
In the late 1920s, the Victorian Railways introduced their fleet of E class electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...
s which operated throughout Melbourne for the next 60 years, trains operating during the off-peak and at night. As late as the 1970s, most suburban railway stations had goods yards for general freight, as well as the local distribution of huge quantities of brown coal briquettes and firewood
Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellets or chips. Firewood can ...
, which were the principal forms of industrial and domestic heating. Briquette traffic peaked in 1960/61 when 1.7 million tons were moved within Victoria, second only to the wheat harvest in volume.
There were also a large number of sidings that directly served factories and other industrial facilities. With the rise of efficient door to door road transport, suburban rail freight operations ceased in the late 1980s. The majority of goods yards have since been removed and the land used for car parking, or converted to stabling locations for suburban trains.
Suburban stations with goods yards or sidings included:
* Dandenong
Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...
* Essendon Essendon may refer to:
Australia
*Electoral district of Essendon
*Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington
*Essendon, Victoria
**Essendon railway station
**Essendon Airport
*Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League
United King ...
* Lilydale
* Newport
* Werribee
Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census.
Werribee i ...
* Sunshine
Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when th ...
* Broadmeadows
Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hume Local government areas of Victoria, local ...
* Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...
* Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
* General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
* Williamstown
* Laverton
* Newmarket
* Yarraville
Yarraville is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the .
Yarraville i ...
* Spotswood (sand trains to AGM Siding
Australian Glass Manufacturers Siding, which is also known as Koala Siding, was a railway siding on the South Gippsland line in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.
The siding was the last new siding on the line, being opened during the 1960s. ...
near Nyora
Nyora is a town in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, approximately south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shires of Baw Baw, Cardinia and South Gippsland local government areas. Nyora recorded a populat ...
)
* Seaford
* Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...
In recent years, attempts have been made to run shuttles between the Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phill ...
and inland port
An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port.
Examples
The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...
s. Between 2003 and 2006, CRT Group
CRT Group is an intermodal transport company in Australia. It was founded in 1954 as Colin Rees Transport, a taxi truck company in Sydney. In 1981 it became known as the CRT Group, and by the time of its acquisition by QR National in June 2005 ...
operated a shuttle to their terminal at Altona, 22 kilometres from the docks. In 2004/05, the service transported 13,000 TEU, this being 42 per cent capacity for import and 58 per cent for export containers. The service ceased due to high access fees charged by track operator ARTC, and delays by interstate freight trains sharing the same track making the reliable operation of two trips per day impossible. The service restarted in 2005, but failed for the same reasons. A second port shuttle has operated to the Austrack terminal at Somerton Somerton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Somerton, New South Wales
* Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb
** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach
* Somerton, Victoria ...
during various periods since 1998, with difficulties faced including inefficient track layouts, high rail transfer charges at the port, and inconvenient timetables dictated by long-distance freight services.
See also
* Railways in Melbourne
The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which ser ...
* Rail transport in Victoria
Rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 2,357 km of Victorian broad gauge () lines, and 1,912 km of standard g ...
References
*
{{Reflist, 30em
Rail transport in Victoria (Australia)
Transport in Melbourne
*
Rail freight transport in Australia