The 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. It was 4.29 miles long,[1] it is also known as the Brooklyn Loop line, for the intermediate signal box on the line. Initially it was not possible for trains to run from Brooklyn into Melbourne via Tottenham, with the connection not added until the 1960s.
Between Newport and Brooklyn the line was provided with bidirectional double track lines.[2] 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 as part of the standardisation of the Melbourne-Adelaide railway.[3]
Line guide
From inner Melbourne access to the line is via the South Kensington-West Footscray freight line under Footscray station. The main line runs as dual gauge from Tottenham Junction on the North East standard gauge line, crosses the suburban Sunbury line on a bridge, until it reaches Brooklyn where a single broad gauge from Sunshine station joins. From here parallel broad and dual gauge tracks run to Newport, where they merge and run behind Newport station, with the broad gauge joining the Werribee line and the standard gauge continuing as the Western standard gauge line alongside.
Standard gauge in blue, dual gauge in green, broad gauge in red.
