Melbourne tram route 109 is operated by
Yarra Trams
Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victorian Department of Transport. The current franchise is operated by Keolis Downer. ...
on the
Melbourne tram network
Trams are a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of of double track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops. The sys ...
from
Box Hill to
Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...
. The 19.3 kilometre route is operated out of
Kew depot with
A and
C class trams.
History
The origins of route 109 lie in separate tram lines, a
cable tram from
Spencer Street to the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower s ...
, a horse tram from the Yarra River to
Kew Cemetery
Boroondara General Cemetery, often referred to as Kew cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Victoria, Australia, created in the tradition of the Victorian garden cemetery. The cemetery, located in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, is listed ...
, an electric line from
Kew Junction to
Box Hill (extended over the years), as well as the
Port Melbourne railway line.
A cable line was opened by the
Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company
The Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company (MTOC) was the company which established and operated Melbourne's cable tram system from 1885 to 1916.
History
The MTOC was started by Francis Boardman Clapp, who had come to Australia from the United ...
from
Spencer Street to
Brunswick Street along
Collins Street, MacArthur Street, Gisborne Street and Victoria Parade on 2 October 1886, and extended to the west side of the Yarra River along Victoria Parade and
Victoria Street on 22 November 1886. A connecting horse tram was built from the east side of the Yarra River to Kew Cemetery, along Barkers Road, High Street South and High Street, opening on 28 December 1887.
The
Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust (PMTT) opened a line from High Street to
Burke Road
Burke Road is a major north–south thoroughfare in Melbourne, Australia. It runs from Ivanhoe East to Caulfield East and through the major shopping district at Camberwell.
It is aligned with the western boundary of Elgar's Special Survey, ...
along Cotham Road on 30 May 1913. On 1 November 1914 the PMTT received permission to convert the horse tram line to electric traction, and the new electric line was opened on 24 February 1915. The PMTT extended the Cotham Road line to Union Road,
Mont Albert along
Whitehorse Road
Maroondah Highway (also known as Whitehorse Road from Deepdene to Mitcham) is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to the lower alpine region of V ...
, on 30 September 1916.
In 1929 the
Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board
The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) was a government-owned authority that was responsible for the tram network in Melbourne, Australia between 1919 and 1983, when it was merged into the Metropolitan Transit Authority. It had b ...
(MMTB) started converting the Collins Street cable lines to electric traction, with the last cable tram running down Collins Street on 14 September 1929, and the first electric tram on 8 December 1929. At the same time the MMTB built a new electric line down the centre of
Victoria Parade to replace the cable line, which opened on 15 September 1929. For the next six decades the Melbourne to Mont Albert tram was numbered 42, celebrated by a 1982 theatrical production, ''Storming Mont Albert by Tram'', which was performed on a specially-chartered Route 42 tram from the Mont Albert terminus to the city and return.
The line was extended south-west to
Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...
along Spencer Street and the former
Port Melbourne railway line on 21 December 1987 following the conversion of the railway (along with the
St Kilda line) to light rail. The
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 ( C ...
track was re-gauged to
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 E ...
and the
overhead voltage was reduced from 1500
V DC to 600 V DC with light rail platforms built adjacent to or near the former stations platforms. Initially services operated as route 111 between
Carlton Gardens and Port Melbourne. On 19 December 1993, routes 42 and 111 were combined as route 109. When
Station Pier was refurbished in 1999, tram tracks were laid to allow for route 109 to be extended onto the pier, but have never been connected.
The line was extended from its original terminus at Mont Albert to
Box Hill along
Whitehorse Road
Maroondah Highway (also known as Whitehorse Road from Deepdene to Mitcham) is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to the lower alpine region of V ...
for 2.2 kilometres on 2 June 2003. In January 2016, route 109 began operating through the night on Fridays and Saturdays as part of the
Night Network.
Route
Route 109 runs from
Box Hill, travelling west on
Whitehorse Road
Maroondah Highway (also known as Whitehorse Road from Deepdene to Mitcham) is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to the lower alpine region of V ...
through the suburbs of
Mont Albert,
Surrey Hills,
Balwyn and
Deepdene. Entering
Kew at
Burke Road
Burke Road is a major north–south thoroughfare in Melbourne, Australia. It runs from Ivanhoe East to Caulfield East and through the major shopping district at Camberwell.
It is aligned with the western boundary of Elgar's Special Survey, ...
, Whitehorse Road becomes Cotham Road. It continues west, through Kew Junction and then south west along High Street, High Street South and turns west into Barkers Road.
It crosses the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower s ...
into
Victoria Street,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
and continues west, at
Hoddle Street
Hoddle Highway is an urban highway in Melbourne linking CityLink and the Eastern Freeway, itself a sub-section of Hoddle Main Road. Both these names are not widely known to most drivers, as the entire allocation is still best known as by the n ...
Victoria Street becomes Victoria Parade, it passes through
St Vincent's Plaza
St Vincent's Plaza is a major interchange of the Melbourne tram network, serviced by Yarra Trams routes 11, 12, 30 and 109. It is located in the wide centre median of Victoria Parade, wedged between the intersections of Gisborne Street and ...
, passing
St Vincent's Hospital, the
Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital
The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (the Eye and Ear) is a specialist public teaching hospital in East Melbourne, Australia. It is the only hospital in Australia which specialises in both ophthalmology and otolaryngology.
History
The hos ...
and turns south onto Gisborne Street, continues south west along MacArthur Street and turns west into
Collins Street, entering the
CBD, passing
Melbourne Town Hall and City Square.
It turns south into
Spencer Street, passing
Southern Cross station
Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, Melbourne, Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins ...
, then crosses the Yarra River and enters
Southbank on Clarendon Street before traversing the suburbs of
South Melbourne
South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...
and
Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...
on a
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
using the former
Port Melbourne railway line and terminates at
Port Melbourne railway station
Port Melbourne is a railway station in the Melbourne suburb of the same name located on the former Port Melbourne line, the first significant railway in Australia.
The station was opened in 1854 to carry passengers arriving at Station Pier to ...
near
Station Pier.
Operation
Route 109 is operated out of
Kew depot with
A and
C1 class trams. For a period from 2002, some services were also operated by
Southbank depot.
Route map
Bus route
When
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
s are berthed at
Station Pier,
Transit Systems Victoria
Transit Systems Victoria, formerly Sita Buslines, is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems and operates 18 bus routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria.
History
In 1966, Frank Bono a ...
operate a parallel bus service as route 109 between Station Pier and the
Arts Centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...
.
109 Express Port Melbourne to Arts Centre
Public Transport Victoria
References
External links
{{MelbourneTramNavbox, state=collapsed
109
109
1993 establishments in Australia
Transport in the City of Whitehorse
Transport in the City of Boroondara
Transport in the City of Yarra
Transport in the City of Port Phillip
Collins Street, Melbourne