Glen Waverley railway line

Glen Waverley railway line, Melbourne
Line details
Commenced	1890
Completed	1930
Length	22.25 km (13.83 mi)
Stations	12
Tracks	Double track throughout
Used by	Metro Trains Melbourne
Service pattern	Stopping all stations, some peak expresses
Rolling stock	Comeng, X'Trapolis
Connections	Alamein,Belgrave and Lilydale lines
Former connections	Outer Circle line
Railways in Melbourne
	List of stations; Freight railways; Closed railways; Proposed railways;

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The Glen Waverley railway line is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia. It branches from the Lilydale line at Burnley station. It has 12 stations in Metlink ticketing Zones 1 and 2.

Description

The Glen Waverley line leaves the Lilydale line at Burnley and crosses the Yarra River to follow the Monash Freeway and the valley of Gardiners Creek through seven stations to Holmesglen. Next it rises through Jordanville and Mount Waverley stations before reaching a peak just over 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level west of Lawrence Road. After this the line descends rapidly to a bridge across a valley before the next station, Syndal. The line rises and falls again to the terminus, Glen Waverley.

The journey from Holmesglen to the terminus involves some of the steepest grades in Melbourne (1 in 30).

Despite the heavy grades, earthworks are fairly moderate. The line has several level crossings in the Gardiners Creek section, but the rest of the line crosses roads by means of bridges over or under the railway. The level crossings include two of Melbourne's four locations where the railway crosses tram lines. These are at Glenferrie Road near Kooyong Station and at Burke Road near Gardiner Station.

Infrastructure

The line is double track throughout, and controlled by automatic block signalling. Intermediate terminating facilities are provided only at Darling, although it is not normally used. Stabling facilities are provided at the junction (Burnley) and the terminus (Glen Waverley).

History

A rail connection from Princes Bridge station to Punt Road (Richmond) was made over a line built by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company in 1859, and their branch line from Richmond to Burnley opened in 1861.

In 1890 what would become the Glen Waverley line opened from Burnley to Darling. The Burnley – Darling line was electrified in 1920 with a one station extension to Eastmalvern in 1929. In 1930 the line was taken to Glen Waverley and became the Glen Waverley railway line.

At the same time in 1890 a line known as the Outer Circle line opened, running from Oakleigh (on the Pakenham line) to Darling, continuing to Burnley (a further line of the Outer Circle junctioned north to Riversdale at Waverley Road, near to where East Malvern now is). The Outer Circle was closed in sections between 1893 and 1897 and the Burnley – Waverley Road line section was cut back to Darling in 1895. In 1929 when the Glen Waverly line construction began its first extension from Darling to Eastmalvern it was on the track of the Outer Circle line up to a short distance nigh of the new Eastmalvern station. The Outer Circle line would have begun its curve south towards Waverley Road and Oakleigh. The Glen Waverley line was to continue straight east and curve towards Holmesglen.

The 1950s saw the line undergo major upgrades, including the first centralised traffic control installation in Australia. Commissioned in September 1957 and 6 miles (9.7 km) in length, the Victorian Railways installed it as a prototype for the North East standard project.^[1]

Services

The majority of trains stop all stations. Some peak services do not stop at East Richmond station. A select number of services operate as express trains, running express between Richmond and Darling.

Line guide

File:Mount Waverley.jpg

Mount Waverley railway station

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 Belgrave, Lilydale and Alamein lines at Burnley.

Glen Waverley railway line

Legend