The Belgrave railway line is a commuter rail line operating between Flinders Street in the

Melbourne central business district The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city la ...

and

Belgrave Belgrave may refer to: Places *Belgrave, Cheshire, an English village *Belgrave, Leicester an English district *Belgrave, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia ** Belgrave railway line **Belgrave railway station, Melbourne **Belgrave (Puffing ...

, through the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Canterbury, Surrey Hills, Mont Albert, Box Hill, Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham, Ringwood, Heathmont, Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Upper Ferntree Gully, Upwey, Tecoma and Belgrave. It is part of the Melbourne rail network, 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% ...

. Beyond Belgrave, the narrow-gauge line has been restored as the

Puffing Billy Railway The Puffing Billy Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway in the southern foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne, Australia. The railway was one of the five narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways which opened around the beg ...

, which runs to the original terminus of

Gembrook Gembrook is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Cardinia local government area. Gembrook recorded a population of 2,559 at the 2021 census. Gembrook is a popular d ...

Infrastructure

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 ( ...

line shares four tracks to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

, where the

Glen Waverley line The Glen Waverley railway line is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia, operated by Metro Trains Melbourne. It branches from the Lilydale, Belgrave and Alamein lines at Burnley station. It has 12 stations in PTV ticketing z ...

branches off. The line is triple track to Box Hill, and double track to Ringwood, where the Lilydale line branches off. The line remains

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 li ...

Ferntree Gully Ferntree Gully is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, 30 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Ferntree Gully re ...

, and is then single track to

, with

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

s and

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular o ...

s at Upper Ferntree Gully, Upwey, and Belgrave. The line is controlled by automatic block signalling. Intermediate terminating facilities are provided at

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, an ...

and Upper Ferntree Gully. Bayswater is not normally used for terminating, but is also the location of a repair centre. Stabling facilities are provided at Bayswater, Upper Ferntree Gully, and Belgrave. For most of its length (after Ringwood), it is paralleled by the

Ringwood–Belgrave Rail Trail __NOTOC__ The Ringwood - Belgrave Rail Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows the Belgrave railway line from the Mullum Mullum Creek Trail in Ringwood to Belgrave railway station in Belgrave, in the outer eastern ...

, a shared pedestrian and bicycling route.

Services

A variety of stopping patterns operate on the Belgrave railway line. As the line shares track between Flinders Street and Ringwood with the

Lilydale railway line The Lilydale railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Lilydale through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Hawthorn, Hawthorn ...

, double frequencies is often provided on this section. Similar service patterns are replicated on the

. Additional service is provided by the

Alamein railway line The Alamein railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Ashburton through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, ...

between

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

and Flinders Street during peak hours.

City Loop

All weekday morning inbound services operate via the

City Loop The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a mostly-underground and partly surface-level subway and rail system in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Loop includes t ...

to Flinders Street in an anticlockwise direction. Outbound services travel direct to Richmond. On weekday afternoons, all inbound services travel direct to Flinders Street. Most outbound services travel via the

Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

on their way out. Outbound local trains will travel direct to

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 ...

during this time. On weekends, inbound services travel direct to Flinders Street before running via the Loop on their way out.

Night Network ''Night Network'', ''Night Time'' and ''Night Shift'' were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the co ...

services run direct between Flinders Street and

and do not travel via the

Local

Trains stop all stations between

and Flinders Street except for East Richmond. During peak hour, local trains typically operate between

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, Ringwood and Flinders Street. These trains will usually stop at East Richmond. Trains on the Alamein line provide additional local service during peak hours between

and Flinders Street. On weekends, only local service is provided with trains stopping at all stations. A few trains may skip East Richmond. Travel time between

and Flinders Street is around 1 hour and 14 minutes via the

and 1 hour and 5 minutes direct. A shuttle service is operated between Ringwood and

during early mornings and late at night. * Every 30 minutes to Belgrave during daytime on weekdays * Every 15 minutes between Flinders Street and Ringwood during daytime on weekdays * Every 20 minutes to Belgrave during daytime on weekends * Every 10 minutes between Flinders Street and Ringwood during daytime on weekends * Every hour (Night Network)

Express

There are two primary express patterns operating on the line. Trains operating the slower express service will stop at

and Glenferrie between

and Box Hill. Some trains may skip/pass Glenferrie. Trains operating the faster express service do not make any stops between Box Hill and

, but some trains may make an additional stop at Surrey Hills. The faster express services travel between Box Hill and

in 13 minutes, whilst a local train will take 24 minutes. Express services operate exclusively during peak hour, in the peak direction of travel, and will always travel via the

. Additionally, limited express trains operate express between

and

with some services making an additional stop at Glenferrie. Express trains operate only during weekdays.

* ''Every 30 Minutes during the day on Weekdays'' * ''Every 10-15 Minutes during Peak Hours on Average''

Station Guide

* ◼

Premium Station 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 ...

- Station staffed from first to last train * ◻

Host Station The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne central business district, Melbourne ...

- Usually staffed during morning peak, however this can vary for different stations on the network. Legend - Stopping Patterns * ● - All trains stop * ○ - Some trains stop * , - Trains do not stop Note: * A few trains operate to different stopping patterns, especially during the peak period between Ringwood and Box Hill. * Some trains terminate and start their services at intermediate stations.

Rolling Stock

The majority of services are operated using trains of six carriages. Some local and shuttle services are operated using 3-car train sets. *

X'Trapolis 100 The X'Trapolis 100 is a class of single deck electric multiple units part of Alstom's X'Trapolis family of trains, operated in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Valparaíso, Chile. Melbourne In service When originally introduced to the su ...

History

The line from Ringwood to Upper Ferntree Gully was opened in December 1889. A narrow-gauge line was opened from there to Gembrook in December 1900, the second of four experimental narrow-gauge lines built by the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

. In 1921, the narrow-gauge section from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave was converted to automatic signalling, the first such instance on single track in the Southern Hemisphere. This section reverted to Staff and Ticket

safeworking Signalling block systems enable the safe and efficient operation of railways by preventing collisions between trains. The basic principle is that a track is broken up into a series of sections or "blocks". Only one train may occupy a block at a ...

in 1930.

Electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

of the railway to Upper Ferntree Gully was implemented in November 1925. Following a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environmen ...

in 1953, the narrow-gauge line was formally closed in April 1954, although it was reopened as far as Belgrave for some "farewell specials" and then for the Puffing Billy Preservation Society until again closed in February 1958. The line was partly duplicated between Bayswater and Lower Ferntree Gully (now Ferntree Gully) in February 1957. The narrow-gauge line to Belgrave had been closed so that the line could be rebuilt as part of the suburban electrified system. The new, broad-gauge, electrified extension opened in February 1962. It initially operated on the Staff and Ticket system, but was converted to automatic signalling in March 1964, with the section from Ferntree Gully to Upper Ferntree Gully being converted the following day. Ringwood to Bayswater was converted to automatic signalling in June 1974, as was Bayswater to Ferntree Gully in July 1977. In December 1982, Ringwood to Bayswater was duplicated. The

Comeng Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engi ...

trains were introduced to the Melbourne railway system in 1981. Initially, along with the Belgrave line, they were only allowed to operate on the Alamein,

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 mainl ...

Glen Waverley Glen Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Glen Waverley recorded a population of 42,642 at the 2021 census. History ...

and Lilydale lines, due to the width of the trains (3.05 metres). Bayswater station was rebuilt in 2017, with the project accompanying the removal of the Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road railway crossings in 2016. On 4 April 2016, plans to potentially run a regular revenue Tait set service on the Belgrave line was announced. This came following La Trobe MP Jason Wood's push for the idea as part of the greater "Puffing Billy master plan". The Tait service would be aimed at tourists visiting Puffing Billy. In November 2016, La Trobe MP Jason Wood committed $1 million to restoring a Tait set currently stored at Newport workshops. The Tait set service is expected to originate at Flinders Street station as a direct service to Belgrave bypassing the City Loop.

References

External links

Statistics and detailed schematic map
at th
vicsig
enthusiast website {{DEFAULTSORT:Belgrave Railway Line Railway lines in Melbourne Railway lines opened in 1889 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Australia 5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Australia 1889 establishments in Australia Transport in the City of Yarra Public transport routes in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Transport in the City of Boroondara Transport in the City of Whitehorse Transport in the City of Maroondah Transport in the City of Knox Transport in the Shire of Yarra Ranges