Sunbury line

19th century

The Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company started to build a rail line to Bendigo before operations were taken over by the Department of Railways then the Victorian Railways. The line had been extended as far as Sunbury by February 1859.^[4] The line was duplicated between Footscray and Sunbury in early July 1859.^[4]

20th century

Electrification of the line to St Albans was completed in October 1921, although electrification has already occurred to North Melbourne in May 1919 as part of the Essendon line electrification, and to Footscray in August 1920 as part of the Williamstown line electrification.^[5] Electrification shaved 10 minutes off the trip from St Albans to the city.^[5]

North Melbourne to South Kensington was quadruplicated in 1924, and South Kensington to Footscray in November 1976.^[10] 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.^[10]

21st century

Sunbury extension

Proposals for an extension of electrified metropolitan services to Sunbury had dated as far back as the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan.^[11] $270 million was set aside to complete electrification works as part of the 2008 Victorian Transport Plan, with works completed in 2012.^[12]

There was some opposition to electrification. Concerns included a less comfortable journey, the removal of toilet facilities, the presence of a conductor, potential overcrowding, and congestion at level crossings due to the increase in the number of services.^[13] Bendigo line users also raised concern that electrification to Sunbury would slow down their trains to Melbourne. Ian Dobbs, then head of Public Transport Victoria acknowledged this issue, stating that "there's a slight slow-down of services on that particular corridor with this timetable, because we're putting more Metro services in the mix."^[14]

On 18 November 2012, the newly electrified line was renamed from the Sydenham line to the Sunbury line. Completion of the electrification increased the service frequency of Sunbury and Diggers Rest stations to 489 trains per week, an increase of 64% from the 298 trains per week when the service was operated by V/Line.^[15][16]

Metro Tunnel

The 2012 Network Development Plan identified the need for a north–south tunnel connecting the Sunbury line to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.^[29] In 2017, the Metro Tunnel project began construction, consisting of twin 9-kilometre (5.6 mi) tunnels bored underground between South Kensington and South Yarra stations, with five new stations along the route: Arden, Parkville, State Library (connecting to Melbourne Central), Town Hall (connecting to Flinders Street), and Anzac. These works was completed in 2025, and went fully operational following the timetable change on 1 February 2026.^[8]

Level crossing removals

The Level Crossing Removal Project has announced the removal of all 7 remaining level crossings on the Sunbury line, completed in stages from 2016 to 2025. In 2016, the level crossings at Furlong Road and Main Road, St Albans, were removed by lowering the rail line into a trench under the roads; St Albans and Ginifer stations were rebuilt.^[30][31] Another crossing was removed by elevating a section of the Melton Highway in Sydenham onto a bridge above the rail line in 2018.^[32] All remaining level crossings on the line were removed in 2025. The crossings at Old Calder Highway, Watsons Road, and Calder Park Drive were removed by building road bridges over the rail line, and the Holden Road crossing was closed to car traffic.^[33][34][35]

Ginifer and St Albans stations were rebuilt during the removal of the Furlong Road level crossing.

Infill Stations

Currently, There is only one station proposed to be built on the Sunbury Line being at Calder Park. The station is planned to be located adjacent to Calder Park Drive.^[36]

Services

Services on the Sunbury line operates from approximately 4:00 am to around 1:00 daily.^[1] In general, during peak hours, train frequency is 5–10 minutes in the AM peak on the Sunbury line while during non-peak hours the frequency is reduced to 10-20 minutes throughout the entire route.^[3] Frequency varies between different parts of the route, with some trains terminating or originating from Watergardens and West Footscray. On Friday and Saturday nights, services run 24 hours a day, with 60 minute frequencies available outside of normal operating hours.^[37]

Train services on the Sunbury 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.^[38]

Operators

The Sunbury line has had a total of 7 operators since its opening in 1859. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from its first service in 1859 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line.^[40] These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation, and Bayside Trains have a combined operational length of 141 years.

Bayside Trains was privatised in August 1999 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.^[41][42][43] Two years later, rival train operator Connex Melbourne took over the M>Train operations including the Sunbury 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 25 years.^[44]

Route

v t e Sunbury line
Legend
km Multiple lines via Richmond or Jolimont City Loop Melbourne Metro Tunnel to Caulfield 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Town Hall ●● 1.4 Parliament (not a stop) 2.7 Melbourne Central ●●●●●●●●●● State Library ●● 3.3 Flagstaff (not a stop) 1.2 Southern Cross ● (not a stop) Parkville City Loop North East & Western lines to Sydney & Adelaide 2.9 North Melbourne ●●●●●●● (not a stop) 3.1 Dynon Road Arden Upfield line to Upfield 3.7 CityLink 3.7 Moonee Ponds Creek Craigieburn, Seymour & Shepparton lines via Essendon Flemington Racecourse line to Flemington Racecourse South Kensington–West Footscray line to West Footscray 4.7 South Kensington (not a stop) Melbourne Metro Tunnel Saltwater River (demolished) 5.5 Maribyrnong River Maribyrnong line to Maribyrnong River Terminal (dismantled) 6.6 Hopkins Street 6.9 Footscray ●●●●●●●●●●■ South Kensington–West Footscray, North East & Western lines to Southern Cross Werribee & Williamstown lines to Newport 7.8 Middle Footscray 8.3 Geelong Road 8.6 West Footscray 10.3 Tottenham 10.4 Ashley Street 11.0 White City (demolished) Newport–Sunshine & Western lines to Newport & Adelaide Maidstone (demolished) 12.2 Stony Creek Newport–Sunshine line to Newport 13.5 Sunshine ●●●●● 13.6 Hampshire Road Multiple lines via Deer Park 13.3 Anderson Road 14.9 Albion 15.0 Ballarat Road Albion–Jacana line to Broadmeadows 16.3 Western Ring Road 17.2 Ginifer 19.0 St Albans 19.6 Keilor Plains 21.0 Taylors Road 23.7 Kings Road 24.5 Watergardens ●● 27.7 Calder Park Sidings Holden (demolished) 33.9 Diggers Rest 34.4 Calder Highway 39.5 Sunbury ●● 39.8 end of overhead 40.7 Rupertswood (closed) 41.0 Jackson Creek 41.4 end of Metro area Bendigo, Echuca & Swan Hill lines to Bendigo km
broad gauge standard gauge dual gauge

The Sunbury line forms a relatively linear route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Sunbury. The route is 40.3 kilometres (25.0 mi) long and is fully double-tracked from Town Hall to its terminus. The only underground section of the Sunbury line is in the Metro Tunnel, where the service stops at 4 underground stations. Exiting the city, the Sunbury line traverses mainly flat country, except on the west bank of the Maribyrnong River where it requires some moderately heavy earthworks. The line is 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 Sunbury 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. Some sections of the line has been elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings.^[45]

Stations

The line serves 16 stations across 40.3 kilometres (25.0 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.^[46] From 2026, services ceased to stop at Southern Cross, Flagstaff, Melbourne Central, Parliament, and North Melbourne stations due to the opening of the Metro Tunnel.

More information Station, Image ...

Station	Image	Accessibility	Opened	Terrain	Train connections	Other connections
Town Hall		Yes—step free access	2025	Underground	16 connections  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Craigieburn line   Cranbourne line   Flemington Racecourse line   Frankston line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Pakenham line   Sandringham line   Upfield line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
State Library					11 connections  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Craigieburn line   Cranbourne line   Frankston line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Pakenham line   Upfield line
Parkville					2 connections  Cranbourne line   Pakenham line
Arden
Footscray			1859[47]	Ground level	10 connections  Ararat line   Ballarat line   Bendigo line   Echuca line   Geelong line   Maryborough line   Swan Hill line   Warrnambool line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Middle Footscray		No—steep ramp	1906[47]
West Footscray		Yes—step free access	1888[47]
Tottenham		No—steep ramp	1891[47]	Elevated
Sunshine		Yes—step free access	1885[47]	Ground level	4 connections  Ararat line   Ballarat line   Geelong line   Maryborough line
Albion		No—steep ramp	1860[47]
Ginifer		Yes—step free access	1982[47]	Below ground
St Albans			1887[47]
Keilor Plains			2002[47]	Ground level
Watergardens			1859[47]		2 connections  Bendigo line   Swan Hill line
Diggers Rest
Sunbury					2 connections  Bendigo line   Echuca line

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Pre Metro Tunnel stations

More information Station, Accessibility ...

Station	Accessibility	Opened	Terrain	Train connections	Other connections	Notes
Flinders Street	Yes—step free access	1854[49]	Lowered	16 connections  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Craigieburn line   Flemington Racecourse line   Frankston line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Pakenham line   Sandringham line   Sunbury line   Upfield line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Southern Cross		1859[49]	Ground level	27 connections  Alamein line   Albury line   Ararat line   Ballarat line   Belgrave line   Bendigo line   Craigieburn line   Echuca line   Flemington Racecourse line   Geelong line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Maryborough line   Mernda line   NSW TrainLink Southern   Pakenham line   Seymour line   Shepparton line   Sunbury line   Swan Hill line   The Overland   Upfield line   Warrnambool line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Flagstaff		1985[49]	Underground	10 connections  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Craigieburn line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Pakenham line   Sunbury line   Upfield line
Melbourne Central		1981[49]
Parliament		1983[49]
North Melbourne		1859[49]	Ground level	7 connections  Craigieburn line   Flemington Racecourse line   Seymour line   Shepparton line   Upfield line   Werribee line   Williamstown line

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Rolling stock

After the full opening of the Metro Tunnel in 2026, the Sunbury line exclusively use a fleet of High Capacity Metro Train (HCMT) electric multiple unit trains, operating in a seven-car configuration. The trains feature three doors per side on each carriage and can accommodate up to 1,380 passengers. HCMTs were introduced to the Sunbury line in 2023, operating two peak services from Sunbury to Flinders Street each morning.^[50] HCMTs are also planned to be used on the Airport line, which will branch off from the Sunbury line at Sunshine.^[51] HCMTs are built in Changchun, China, with final assembly occurring in Newport, Melbourne, by Evolution Rail, a consortium composed of CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, Downer Rail and Plenary Group.^[52] In October 2023, two HCMT services ran per day on the Sunbury Line, with more gradually introduced in the following years. From 1 February 2026, all services on the Sunbury Line are taken by HCMT stock following the full operation of the Metro Tunnel.

Previously, the Sunbury line was served by a fleet of Comeng and Siemens Nexas trains. Most of the oldest Comeng trains (stage 1 and some stage 2) have been decommissioned and scrapped as part of the HCMT takeover. However, a number of these trains have been reallocated onto other Melbourne metropolitan lines.^[53] In comparison, the Siemens Nexas trains have not been retired, instead being moved onto other lines to replace older Comeng sets. Since February 2026, the Sunbury line is exclusively operated by High Capacity Metro Trains.^[54]

Alongside the passenger trains, Sunbury 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.^[55] Most of these trains are repurposed locomotives previously used by V/Line, Metro Trains Melbourne, and Southern Shorthaul Railroad.^[55]

Accessibility

In compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, all stations that were newly built or rebuilt since the Act took effect comply with its guidelines.^[56] Most stations on the Sunbury line are fully accessible, however, there are some stations that have not been upgraded to meet these guidelines.^[57] Stations that are fully accessible feature ramps that have a gradient less than 1 in 14, have at-grade paths, or feature elevators.^[57] Accessible stations typically also feature tactile boarding indicators, independent boarding ramps, wheelchair accessible myki barriers, hearing loops, and widened paths.^[57][58]

Several stations on the Sunbury line have been rebuilt or upgraded with better accessibility features, mostly as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project and the Sunbury Line Upgrade. This includes St Albans and Ginifer stations, which were rebuilt as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project; and Sunbury, Diggers Rest, Watergardens, Keilor Plains, Albion, Sunshine, and Footscray stations which had raised boarding pads installed to improve wheelchair accessibility as part of the Sunbury Line Upgrade.

Signalling

The Sunbury line uses three-position signalling which is widely used across the Melbourne train network.^[59] Three-position signalling was first introduced in 1929, with the final section of the line converted in 2005.^[60][61] The Sunbury line's signalling system was further upgraded between West Footscray and the western entrance of the Metro Tunnel as part of the Sunbury Line Upgrade to enable the use of "high capacity signalling" (a form of communications-based train control) to be used within the Metro Tunnel.^[62][9]