Sydenham railway line, Melbourne

Sydenham railway line, Melbourne
Line details
Commenced	1859
Tracks	Double track thoughout
Used by	Connex Melbourne, V/Line and freight towards Bendigo
Service pattern	Stopping all station, few peak expresses
Rolling stock	Hitachi, Comeng, Siemens
Connections	Melton, Sunbury
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The Sydenham railway line is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia. It has 13 stations, in Metcard ticketing Zones 1 and 2. It is the suburban portion of the regional line to Bendigo and beyond.

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.

Infrastructure

The line is quadruplicated to South Kensington railway station, Melbourne, 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 quadruplicated track to there. The line is also paralleled by a double track goods line and the interstate standard gauge line, the latter being dual-gauged 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.

History

The line was opened in February 1859 as far as Sunbury, which is beyond Sydenham. 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. Electrification and automatic block signalling were extended to Sydenham in January 2002.

Line guide

West Footscray Station on the Sydenham line

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 0.0 km Flinders St (FSS) Zone 1 1.2 km Southern Cross (SSS) Zone 1 City Loop 2.9 km North Melbourne (NME) Zone 1 Upfield line Moonee Ponds Creek City Link Craigieburn line 4.7 km South Kensington (SKN) Zone 1 Maribyrnong River 6.1 km Footscray (FSY) Zone 1 Werribee & Williamstown lines 7.8 km Middle Footscray (MFY) Zone 1 8.4 km West Footscray (WFY) Zone 1 10.3 km Tottenham (TOT) Zone 1 11.0 km White City (Demolished) Stony Creek Newport - Sunshine freight line 13.5 km Sunshine (SUN) Zones 1 & 2 Melton line 14.9 km Albion (ALB)* Zones 1 & 2 Albion - Jacana freight line Western Ring Road 17.4 km Ginifer (GIN) Zone 2 19.0 km St Albans (SAB) Zone 2 21.0 km Keilor Plains (KPL) Zone 2 25.5 km Watergardens (Sydenham) (SDM) Zone 2 Sunbury line

External links, maps, and timetables

• Timetables
• Official line map
• Statistics and detailed schematic map at the VicSig enthusiast website