Sydenham railway line

Sydenham railway line, Melbourne
Line details
Commenced	1859
Length	23 km (14.3 mi)
Stations	13
Tracks	Double track throughout
Used by	Metro Trains Melbourne, V/Line and freight towards Bendigo
Service pattern	Stopping all stations except South Kensington, few peak expresses
Rolling stock	Hitachi, Comeng, Siemens
Connections	Ballarat and Bendigo lines
Railways in Melbourne
	List of stations; Freight railways; Closed railways; Proposed railways;

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The Sydenham railway line (also referred to as the Watergardens railway line or occasionally as the Sydenham/Watergardens railway line) is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia. It has 13 stations, in Metlink ticketing Zones 1 and 2. It is the electrified section of the Bendigo railway within metropolitan Melbourne.

[edit] Description

The Sydenham line generally traverses flat country and thus has no major earthworks, except on the west bank of the Maribyrnong River where it requires some moderately heavy earthworks. It has numerous level crossings and a few bridges under or over roads.

The Sydenham line is the only line on the Melbourne Metropolitan train network that does not have a terminating station named after the line. The last station on the Sydenham line is Watergardens, which was known as Sydenham until the construction of the Watergardens Town Centre.

[edit] Infrastructure

The line is quadrupled to South Kensington railway station, then is double track for the rest of the line, although from South Kensington to Footscray, it runs alongside the Werribee line, effectively extending the quadruple track to there.

The line is also paralleled by a double track goods line and the interstate standard gauge line, the latter being dual gauge with the goods line to West Footscray. The goods line joins the Sydenham line at Sunshine, whilst the standard gauge line to Sydney continues to run alongside the suburban line to Albion, where it and a goods line head off in a north-easterly direction.

The line is controlled by automatic block signalling throughout. Intermediate terminating facilities are provided at Sunshine and St Albans. Stabling facilities are provided at North Melbourne, St Albans, and Sydenham.

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

Main article: Bendigo railway line#History

The Melbourne and Murray River Railway had been built out as far as Sunbury, 14 km beyond Sydenham, by February 1859.

[edit] 1921 - 2002: The St Albans line

Electrification of the line to St Albans was done in October 1921, although electrification occurred to North Melbourne in May 1919 as part of the Essendon electrification and to Footscray in August 1920 as part of the Williamstown electrification.

North Melbourne to South Kensington was quadruplicated in 1924, and South Kensington to Footscray in November 1976.

Automatic block signalling was provided between South Kensington and Footscray (and Yarraville on the Williamstown line) in August 1927, from Footscray to West Footscray in October 1927, North Melbourne to South Kensington in June 1928, Sunshine to Albion in July 1929, West Footscray to Sunshine in October 1929, and Albion to St Albans in February 1930, thus resulting in the entire electrified line being provided with this signalling.

[edit] 2002 onwards: The Sydenham line

Electrification and automatic block signalling were extended to Sydenham in January 2002.

[edit] Future extension

The line is scheduled to be electrified to Sunbury in 2012.^[1]

[edit] Line guide

Bold stations are termini, where some train services terminate; italic stations are staffed; and stations with an asterisk (*) are manned only during morning peak.

Branches from the City Loop at Southern Cross and Flagstaff.

Sydenham railway line

Legend