Craigieburn line

19th century

The line from North Melbourne to Essendon was opened by the Melbourne & Essendon Railway Company in November 1860.^[7] Soon after, the company opened a branch from Newmarket to Flemington Racecourse.^[7] Both lines were closed shortly after, in July 1864. The Victorian Railways reopened the Flemington Racecourse line (including the Essendon line as far as Newmarket) in November 1867, and in January 1871, to Essendon. In April 1872, the line was extended to a temporary terminus outside Seymour, awaiting completion of a bridge over the Goulburn River. In December 1894, through services were provided from Essendon to Brighton Beach on the Sandringham line.^[8]

20th century

Automatic Block Signalling was introduced on the line in 1918, with Kensington to Essendon being converted in June of that year, and North Melbourne to Kensington in October. In May 1919, Flinders Street to Essendon and the Sandringham line were the first lines to be electrified in Melbourne, apart from a test installation on the Flemington Racecourse line.^[5] In 1921, the line was electrified to Broadmeadows, where it remained until the extension of electrification in 2007.

In January 1924, an extra pair of tracks, including a flying junction, opened between North Melbourne and Kensington, enabling the separation of passenger and goods traffic in the busy section. Further works were carried out in 1929, when the double tracked Albion–Jacana freight line opened, permitting freight trains to avoid the line via Essendon.^[9]

A branch line was opened during the Second World War to Broadstore, designed to connect Broadmeadows station with the Maygar Barracks. The line opened on 12 October 1942 and remaining in operation until 1982, when usage of the base began to cease.^[10]

Automatic Block Signalling was extended to Broadmeadows in November 1965.^[11]

21st century

In 2003, an unmanned suburban train rolled the length of the line from Broadmeadows station for nearly 17 kilometres (11 mi), eventually crashing into another stationary train at Spencer Street station (now Southern Cross station). 11 people sustained minor injuries, however, nobody was seriously injured or killed from the accident.^[12]

On 30 September 2007, electrification of the Broadmeadows line was extended along the regional V/Line tracks to Craigieburn.^[13] The Craigieburn rail project delivered projects including:^[14]

• Upgrading Craigieburn station to premium station status
• A new station at Roxburgh Park
• New train stabling facilities at Craigieburn
• Construction of overhead wiring system with new sub-stations
• Installation of new signalling systems along the Broadmeadows—Craigieburn corridor
• The provision for a new station at Coolaroo (this ended up being built under another government)

The Craigieburn Rail project started construction in May 2005 and was completed in late September 2007. An additional set of projects were delivered later on, with a new station at Coolaroo opened in 2010 and the construction of a fully-fledged train maintenance facility under the Brumby government.^[15]

On 9 April 2012, a train maintenance facility, located north of the station, was opened by then Minister for Public Transport, Terry Mulder.^[16] With the delivery of the new X'Trapolis 2.0 fleet, the facility will be used by Metro Trains Melbourne to maintain the fleet, with upgrades underway to house the trains. This, in turn, will lead to the X'Trapolis 2.0 trains replacing the ageing Comeng fleet which served the Craigieburn line.^[17] No major projects, other than the level crossing removals on the Craigieburn line, have been announced since.

Level Crossing Removals

The Level Crossing Removal Project announced the removal of 2 level crossings on the line, which were completed in stages between 2018 and 2022. In 2018, one level crossing was removed at Buckley Street, Essendon. The crossing was removed by lowering the road line underneath the rail line.^[18] The second crossing to be removed was the one at Glenroy Road, Glenroy, by lowering the rail line underneath the road.^[19] In addition, Glenroy station was rebuilt with a modern, wheelchair accessible, lowered design.^[20] As a result of these removals, the Craigieburn line now has a number of remaining crossings on the corridor that have not been slated for removal since the project's announcement.

Wallan extension

Highlighted in the 2018 Victorian Rail Plan, a proposal exists for the Craigieburn line to be connected to the Upfield line, via the construction of a rail link along the Somerton rail corridor. In addition, the Upfield line would be extended to Wallan. The 2018 Victorian Rail Plan has proposed the following projects take place as part of the Wallan extension:^[21][22]

In 2018, the government announced that a business case would be completed for to further investigate the positivity for these series of projects to commence.^[21] A business case was completed, however, it was not released to the public. Since the business case in 2018, there has been little developments despite the 'Metro Tunnel Day One' milestone of the 2018 Plan fast approaching. Only a small amount of attention has been given by local residents, council, an action group and some political parties.^[23]

Services

Services on the Craigieburn line operates from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 daily.^[1] In general, during peak hours, train frequency is 5–10 minutes in the AM peak on the Craigieburn line while during non-peak hours the frequency is reduced to 20–30 minutes throughout the entire route.^[3] On Friday nights and weekends, services run 24 hours a day, with 60 minute frequencies available outside of normal operating hours.^[24]

Train services on the Craigieburn line are also subjected to maintenance and renewal works, usually on selected Fridays and Saturdays. Shuttle bus services are provided throughout the duration of works for affected commuters.^[25]

Operators

The Craigieburn line has had a total of 8 operators since its opening in 1860. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from the acquisition of the service from private operator the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company in 1871 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line.^[27] These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation, and Bayside Trains have a combined operational length of 129 years.

Bayside Trains was privatised in August 1998 and later rebranded M>Train. In 2002, M>Train was placed into receivership and the state government regained ownership of the line, with KPMG appointed as receivers to operate M>Train on behalf of the state government.^[28][29][30] Two years later, rival train operator Connex Melbourne took over the M>Train operations including the Frankston line. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. The private operators have had a combined operational period of 31 years.^[31]

Route

v t e Craigieburn line
Legend
km Multiple lines via Richmond or Jolimont City Loop 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●●●●●●●●●● 1.4 Parliament ●●●●●●●●● 2.7 Melbourne Central 3.3 Flagstaff 1.2 Southern Cross ● City Loop Albury, North East SG & Western SG lines to Albury, Sydney & Adelaide 2.9 North Melbourne ●●●●●●● 3.1 Dynon Road Upfield line to Upfield 3.7 CityLink 3.7 Moonee Ponds Creek Multiple lines via Footscray 4.8 Kensington 5.4 Racecourse Road 5.5 Newmarket ■ Flemington Racecourse line to Flemington Racecourse 6.8 Ascot Vale Road 7.0 Ascot Vale 7.4 Maribyrnong Road 8.1 Moonee Ponds 9.2 Essendon ●●■ 9.5 Mount Alexander Road 10.4 Glenbervie 11.0 Strathmore 11.3 Pascoe Vale Road 11.7 Moonee Ponds Creek 11.8 Bell Street 11.9 CityLink 12.5 Pascoe Vale 14.1 Oak Park 15.6 Glenroy Albury & North East SG line to Southern Cross & Albion–Jacana line to Albion 16.7 Jacana 16.7 Western Ring Road 17.8 Camp Road 18.1 Broadmeadows ●●● Broadstore Siding (demolished) 20.5 Coolaroo Upfield line to Flinders Street 22.9 Somerton Road 23.0 Somerton (demolished) 23.3 Somerton Yard│Roxburgh Park 27.3 Craigieburn ●● 27.6 Hume Highway / Sydney Road 28.0 end of overhead 28.6 Hume Freeway 31.0 end of Metro area Albury & North East line to Albury & Seymour & Shepparton lines to Seymour km
broad gauge standard gauge dual gauge

The Craigieburn line forms a somewhat linear route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Craigieburn. The route is 27.0 kilometres (16.8 mi) long and is fully double tracked. The only underground section of the Craigieburn line is in the City Loop, where the service stops at 3 underground stations.^[32] Exiting the city, the line steadily rises after leaving North Melbourne until after Essendon, when it then drops slightly to cross Moonee Ponds Creek. Soon after the line encounters the Glenroy Bank, a continuous rising gradient of 1 in 50 for almost 3 kilometres (1.9 mi). After Glenroy, it continues to rise to the end of the suburban line (and beyond). Some sections of the line has been elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings.^[33] Despite some removals, there are a number of level crossings still present with no current plans to remove them.

The line follows the same alignment as multiple lines with the Craigieburn line splitting off at North Melbourne. The Craigieburn line continues on its north western alignment, whereas the other lines continue onto a northern, western, or south-western alignment.^[34] Most of the rail line goes through built-up suburbs and some industrial areas.^[34]

Stations

The line serves 21 stations across 27.0 kilometres (16.8 mi) of track. The stations are a mix of elevated, lowered, underground, and ground level designs. Underground stations are present only in the City Loop, with the majority of elevated and lowered stations being constructed as part of level crossing removals.^[35][19]

More information Station, Image ...

Station	Image	Accessibility	Opened	Terrain	Train connections	Other connections
Flinders Street		Yes—step free access	1854[36]	Lowered	13 connections *  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Flemington Racecourse line   Frankston line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Sandringham line   Upfield line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Southern Cross			1859[36]	Ground level	25 connections *  Alamein line   Albury line   Ararat line   Ballarat line   Belgrave line   Bendigo line   Echuca line   Flemington Racecourse line   Frankston line   Geelong line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Maryborough line   Mernda line   NSW TrainLink Southern   Seymour line   Shepparton line   Swan Hill line   The Overland   Upfield line   Warrnambool line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Parliament			1983[36]	Underground	8 connections *  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Frankston line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Upfield line
Melbourne Central			1981[36]
Flagstaff			1985[36]
North Melbourne			1859[36]	Ground level	7 connections *  Flemington Racecourse line   Seymour line   Shepparton line   Upfield line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Kensington		No—steep ramp	1860[36]
Newmarket
Ascot Vale
Moonee Ponds
Essendon					2 connections  Seymour line   Shepparton line
Glenbervie			1922[36]
Strathmore			1890[36]
Pascoe Vale		Yes—step free access	1885[36]
Oak Park		No—steep ramp	1956[36]
Glenroy		Yes—step free access	1887[36]	Lowered
Jacana		No—steep ramp	1959[36]	Ground level
Broadmeadows		Yes—step free access	1873[36]		4 connections  Albury line   NSW TrainLink Southern   Seymour line   Shepparton line
Coolaroo			2010[36]
Roxburgh Park			2007[36]
Craigieburn			1872[36]		2 connections  Seymour line   Shepparton line

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Rolling stock

The Craigieburn line uses two different types of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that are operated in a split six-car configuration. The primary rolling stock featured on the line is the Comeng EMUs, built by Commonwealth Engineering between 1981 and 1988.^[38] These train sets are the oldest on the Melbourne rail network and subsequently will be replaced by the mid 2030s.^[39] The second type of rolling stock is the Siemens Nexas EMUs which are also widely featured on the line, originally built between 2002 and 2005, these train sets feature more modern technology than the Comeng trains.^[40]

Alongside the passenger trains, Craigieburn line tracks and equipment are maintained by a fleet of engineering trains. The four types of engineering trains are: the shunting train; designed for moving trains along non-electrified corridors and for transporting other maintenance locomotives, for track evaluation; designed for evaluating track and its condition, the overhead inspection train; designed for overhead wiring inspection, and the infrastructure evaluation carriage designed for general infrastructure evaluation.^[41] Most of these trains are repurposed locomotives previously used by V/Line, Metro Trains, and the Southern Shorthaul Railroad.^[41]

Accessibility

In compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, all stations that are new-built or rebuilt are fully accessible and comply with these guidelines.^[43] Just over half of the stations on the corridor are fully accessible, however, there are some stations that haven't been upgraded to meet these guidelines.^[44] These stations do feature ramps, however, they have a gradient greater than 1 in 14.^[44] Stations that are fully accessible feature ramps that have a gradient less than 1 in 14, have at-grade paths, or feature lifts.^[44] These stations typically also feature tactile boarding indicators, independent boarding ramps, wheelchair accessible myki barriers, hearing loops, and widened paths.^[44][45]

Projects improving station accessibility have included the Level Crossing Removal Project, which involves station rebuilds and upgrades, and individual station upgrade projects.^[46][47] These works have made significant strides in improving network accessibility, with more than 57% of Craigieburn line stations classed as fully accessible. Future station upgrade projects will continue to increase the number of fully accessible stations over time.

Signalling

The Craigieburn line uses three position signalling which is widely used across the Melbourne train network.^[48] Three position signalling was first introduced in 1918, with the final section of the line converted to the new type of signalling in 2007.^[49][50]