The Albion–Jacana line is a railway line in the western suburbs of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. Linking

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

on the

Sunbury line The Sunbury line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fifth longest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street railway station, Fl ...

to Jacana on the

Craigieburn line The Craigieburn line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's seventh shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinde ...

, it is primarily used by freight trains and has no

overhead wires An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the tec ...

, passenger stations or platforms.

History

The line was opened on 1 July 1929 to allow freight trains to avoid the steeper grades and busy suburban traffic on the Broadmeadows line via

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

. Initially consisting of two broad gauge tracks, in 1962 the track on the eastern side was converted 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 in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

as part of the Melbourne to Sydney gauge standardisation project.

Melbourne Airport rail link

The Albion–Jacana railway line is a major section of the present preferred option for the proposed rail link to

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...

running via Sunshine station to the

Melbourne central business district The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...

. The extra land required to build the link was confirmed as being reserved by the

Victoria State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

in 2002. In March 2013, the State Government confirmed that the Albion–Jacana corridor would be part of the proposed

Melbourne Airport rail link Melbourne Airport Rail, also known as SRL Airport, is a proposed heavy rail project, connecting the Melbourne CBD to Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine. The rail link will run through the under-construction Metro Tunnel, running from the airport ...

Description

Built as a

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 ...

railway, two major steel viaducts 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. Course The Maribyrnong River draws its headwaters from near Mount Macedon within ...

and

Moonee Ponds Creek The Moonee Ponds Creek is a creek and major tributary of the Yarra River running through urban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from northern to inner suburbs. In 2004 a reporter for ''The Age'' described it as "arguably the most abused tributar ...

valleys. The Maribyrnong River Viaduct is above the riverbed at its highest point and is the second tallest bridge in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

after the

West Gate Bridge The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the Melbourn ...

. Today the track on the eastern side is standard gauge and part of the North East standard gauge line with two crossing loops. The parallel broad gauge also has two crossing loops, each located before rejoining the main lines, and has a 20 km/h speed limit due to the poor track condition.

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

and

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...

XPT passenger services operate on the standard gauge line.

Stations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albion-Jacana railway line Railway lines in Melbourne Railway lines opened in 1929 1929 establishments in Australia Transport in the City of Merri-bek Transport in the City of Brimbank Transport in the City of Moonee Valley