North East standard gauge
Overview
StatusOperational passenger services from Southern Cross to Albury and Sydney
Owner
LocaleVictoria, Australia
Termini
Connecting lines
Former connectionsUpfield—Somerton link
Stations6 current stations
Service
TypeVictorian railway line
ServicesAlbury Southern
Spirit of Progress, Southern Aurora, Sydney–Melbourne Express, Intercapital Daylight
Shared tracks:
South Kensington–West Footscray, Albion–Jacana, Albury
Operator(s)
History
CommencedNovember 1959 (1959-11)
Opened
  • Southern Cross to Albury on 3 January 1962 (1962-01-03)
Completed3 January 1962 (1962-01-03)
ReopenedNew Wodonga section on 23 July 2010 (2010-07-23)
ClosedOld Wodonga section on 9 November 2008 (2008-11-09)
Technical
Number of tracksDouble track:
  • Southern Cross to Tottenham
  • Seymour to border

Single track:

  • Tottenham to Seymour
  • border to Albury
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The North East standard gauge railway line is a railway line in Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Melbourne central business district to Albury railway station in the border settlement of Albury–Wodonga, serving the cities of Wangaratta and Seymour, and smaller towns in northeastern Victoria. The line is owned by VicTrack, but leased to, and maintained by, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, and forms part of the Sydney–Melbourne rail corridor.

Unlike most other heavy rail lines in Victoria, the line is completely standard gauge and runs parallel to the original broad gauge Albury line between Broadmeadows and Seymour, and later gauge converted section on to Albury. Construction of a standard gauge track parallel with the broad gauge from Albury to Melbourne commenced in November 1959, completing the Sydney-Melbourne standard gauge railway.

History

The Spirit of Progress in the 1970s
Standard-gauge Pacific National container freight train near Seymour

20th century

Preliminary work for construction of the line began in November 1957 with the establishment of camps for the building gangs, with the first section being laid in November 1959, and the final section on 5 April 1962.[1]

The line was used by prestige passenger services between the state capitals of Melbourne and Sydney, including the Sydney Limited, Spirit of Progress, Southern Aurora, and Intercapital Daylight. Due to high costs and declining patronage, they were replaced by the XPT in the 1990s.

21st century

Maintaining two parallel railways drew criticism, noting inefficiencies in maintaining track, operating trains, and duplicated train control centres.[2] By 2001, the State Government announced the conversion of the broad gauge line to standard,[3] but action was stifled, due largely to complex leasing arrangements.

In May 2008, it was announced that the tracks would be upgraded, including a 5 km (3.1 mi) bypass around Wodonga, the conversion of 200 kilometres (120 mi) of broad gauge Albury railway line to standard gauge between Seymour and Albury as well as other upgrades to the Albury line.[4] Costing A$501.3 million, the Victorian Government was to contribute A$171.3 million, the Australian Government A$45 million for the Wodonga Rail Bypass, and the Australian Rail Track Corporation A$285 million and take responsibility for the standard-gauge line under a 45-year lease from Victoria.[5] The project was due for completion by 2010, with passenger services to be disrupted for up to 12 months.[6]

In December 2008, standardisation works commenced, contracted by ARTC to the Southern Improvement Alliance. The first train on the Wodonga Rail Bypass was in March 2010.[7]

In early August 2010, CountryLink decided to terminate all Sydney-Melbourne XPTs at Albury for an indefinite length of time, due to defects in the newly re-sleepered track. "Mud holes" resulted in speed restrictions on more than 200 kilometres (about 66 per cent) of the line, adding an extra 1.5 hours to the travelling time.[8] Train drivers have blamed the ARTC's $285 million concrete sleeper project for the track issues, stating that the incorrect insertion of 300,000 new concrete sleepers is to blame. They have repeatedly reported freight trains breaking couplings due to the rough track.[9] CountryLink trains resumed in mid September 2010, V/Line trains the following year.[10]

Wallan train derailment

On 20 February 2020, a NSW TrainLink XPT passenger train towards Sydney derailed at Wallan, resulting in suspension of freight, V/Line and NSW TrainLink services on the North East standard gauge line and the adjacent broad gauge and standard gauge sections of the Albury line. V/Line services resumed on 1 and 2 March 2020.[11]

Network and operations

Services

Spirit of Progress

Southern Aurora

Sydney–Melbourne Express

Intercapital Daylight

XPT

The entire line is used by NSW TrainLink Southern services to, and from, Sydney (Central), which makes limited stops on this section.

Freight

Operators

New South Welshmen

Operator Assumed operations Ceased operations Length of operations
Department of Railways New South Wales 3 January 1962 || 19 October 1972 || data-sort-value=3,942 | 10 years
Public Transport Commission, NSW 20 October 1972 || 30 June 1980 || data-sort-value=2,810 | 7 years
State Rail Authority, NSW 1 July 1980 || 16 January 1989 || data-sort-value=3,121 | 8 years
State Rail Authority (as CountryLink) 16 January 1989 || 31 December 2003 || data-sort-value=5,462 | 14 years
RailCorp (as CountryLink) 1 January 2004 || 30 June 2013 || data-sort-value=3,468 | 9 years
NSW TrainLink 30 June 2013 || incumbent || data-sort-value=3,847 | 10 years (ongoing)

Victorian

Operator Assumed operations Ceased operations Length of operations
Victorian Railways 3 January 1962 || 30 June 1983 || data-sort-value=7,848 | 21 years
State Transport Authority (V/Line) 1 July 1983 || 30 June 1989 || data-sort-value=2,191 | 5 years
Public Transport Corporation (V/Line) 1 July 1989 || 1995 || data-sort-value=2,020 | 5 years
Public Transport Corporation (V/Line Passenger) 1995 || 30 June 1998 || data-sort-value=1,266 | 3 years
V/Line Passenger 1 July 1998 || 29 August 1999 || data-sort-value=424 | 13 months
National Express (as V/Line Passenger) 29 August 1999 || 22 December 2002 || data-sort-value=1,211 | 3 years
V/Line Passenger 22 December 2002 || 1 July 2010 || data-sort-value=2,748 | 7 years
V/Line 1 July 2010 || incumbent || data-sort-value=4,942 | 13 years (ongoing)

Route

The line shares track with the South Kensington–West Footscray railway line from the Melbourne Yard to Footscray, then the line then run alongside the Deniliquin railway line Albion, the Albion–Jacana railway line to Jacana, and finally the North East railway line to Albury.

Stations

Station histories (standard gauge only)
Station Opened[12][13] Closed[12][13] Age Notes[12][13]
Southern Cross16 March 1962 || || data-sort-value=22,581 | 61 years
  • Formerly Batman's Hill
  • Formerly Spencer Street
Victoria Dock (Westgate) ?
Appleton Dock ?
Swanson Dockc. 1969 || || data-sort-value=20,088 | Approx. 55 years
Melbourne Yard ?
Melbourne Steel Terminal1995 || 2015 || data-sort-value=7,305 | 20 years
South Dynon1964 || || data-sort-value=21,915 | 60 years
North Dynon ?
SunshineJanuary 1963 || 2004 || data-sort-value=14,975 | 41 years
McIntyre Sidings12 May 1964 || || data-sort-value=21,793 | 59 years
  • Formerly Lysaght's Siding
Broadmeadows2009 || || data-sort-value=5,478 | 15 years
Somerton Yard5 August 1962 || || data-sort-value=22,439 | 61 years
Seymour1974 || || data-sort-value=18,262 | 50 years
Benalla10 March 1964 || || data-sort-value=21,856 | 59 years
Wangaratta10 March 1964 || || data-sort-value=21,856 | 59 years
SCT BarnawarthaOctober 2016 || || data-sort-value=2,648 | 7 years
Wodonga Coal Siding7 August 1916 || 1 September 2009 || data-sort-value=33,993 | 93 years
  • inc. Bogie exchange area
Albury3 February 1881 || || data-sort-value=52,206 | 142 years

Infrastructure

Branch lines

In January 1963, the Upfield—Somerton link from Somerton to the Ford factory was re-laid as dual gauge gauntlet track.

In 2008, the gauge conversion the Albury railway line from broad gauge to standard gauge, which would have left the Oaklands branch as an isolated and useless spur.[14] The local MP reported that the cost of converting this 125 km (77.7 mi) branch to standard gauge was just over $13m.[15] In October 2008 the Victorian State Government announced that an upgrade would take place.[16] The conversion was completed in December 2009.

Part of the Cudgewa line was converted to dual gauge in 1944 to serve freight depots around Bandiana. The Wodonga-Bandiana section closed on 1 September 2009 as part of the Wodonga Rail Bypass project.[17]

Signalling

References

  1. ↑ Chris Banger (November 2012). "The Standard Way to Albury – part 1". Newsrail. Vol. 40, no. 11. Vic: ARHS Victoria Division. pp. 320–335. ISSN 0310-7477. OCLC 19676396.
  2. ↑ "Derailment of Freight Train 1SP2N and the Subsequent Collision of Passenger Train 8318". Australian Transport Safety Bureau: Investigation Reports. 1 November 2006. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  3. ↑ Victorian Auditor General (August 2006). "Rail Gauge Standardisation Project". Victorian Auditor General's Office. Archived from the original on 3 September 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  4. ↑ "$500m rail link upgrade for Victoria". news.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  5. ↑ "Premier of Victoria, Australia – FEDERAL-STATE CO-OPERATION DELIVERS MAJOR RAIL PROJECT". premier.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  6. ↑ "Full steam ahead – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. abc.net.au. 29 May 2008. Archived from the original on 12 February 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  7. ↑ VICTORIA MACDONALD (16 March 2010). "A bypass milestone as freight train ambles in". The Border Mail. bordermail.com.au. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
  8. ↑ BRAD WORRALL (10 August 2010). "XPT passengers forced onto buses". The Border Mail. bordermail.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  9. ↑ BRAD WORRALL (11 August 2010). "V/line mud 'chaos'". The Border Mail. bordermail.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  10. ↑ BRAD WORRALL (13 September 2010). "Trains back on track". Prime Wodonga. wodonga.iprime.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  11. ↑ "Resumption of V/Line train services in North East Victoria". V/Line. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 Anderson, Rick (2010). Stopping All Stations. Clunes, Victoria: Full Parallel Productions. ISBN 978-0646543635. OCLC 671303814.
  13. 1 2 3 [Vicsig.net "VICSIG"]. vicsig.net. Retrieved 12 July 2023. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  14. ↑ "Premier of Victoria, Australia – FEDERAL-STATE CO-OPERATION DELIVERS MAJOR RAIL PROJECT". premier.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  15. ↑ Ken Jasper Member of the Legislative Assembly, Member for Murray Valley – Jasper supports Oaklands rail line upgrade Archived 18 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ "Government announces rail upgrade". The Border Mail. bordermail.com.au. 20 October 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
  17. ↑ Cudgewa Line Vicsig
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