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The Pakenham line in Melbourne, Australia is a commuter rail passenger train service operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne CBD and Pakenham in Melbourne's southeast. The service operates entirely on the Orbost main line and the City Loop. The service is part of the Public Transport Victoria metropolitan rail network and is operated by Metro Trains Melbourne.

Pakenham
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Current operator(s)	Metro Trains
Route
Termini	Flinders Street Pakenham
Stops	23 (excluding City Loop stations)
Distance travelled	56.9 km (35.4 mi)
Average journey time	1 hour 9 minutes
Service frequency	6–12 minutes weekdays peak 20 minutes weekdays off-peak and weekend daytime 30 minutes weekend nights 60 minutes early weekend mornings Double frequency daytime between Flinders Street and Dandenong in combination with Cranbourne line
Line(s) used	City Loop Orbost
On-board services
Disabled access	Yes
Technical
Rolling stock	Comeng, Siemens, High Capacity Metro Trains
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner(s)	VicTrack

Description

The Pakenham line traverses mainly flat country with few curves and fairly minimal earthworks for most of the line. However between South Yarra and Malvern the line has been lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings, and between Malvern and Caulfield it has been raised on an embankment for the same reason. After Caulfield, the line formerly had numerous level crossings, however all have now been abolished between Caulfied and Dandenong as part of an elevated rail project, as well as some older bridges over and under roads. The elevated rail project, proclaimed "Skyrail", saw the construction of three sections of elevated rail to remove a total of nine crossings on the line, as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project which commenced in 2015.[1] These removals have improved road traffic congestion in the area, especially in peak traffic times, and will enable an increase in train numbers. The line encounters some gentle hills between Narre Warren and Beaconsfield which require some more extensive earthworks to negotiate.

Most of the line goes through built-up suburbs and some industrial areas, but after Dandenong, it gets into more open countryside, passing by open fields and farms, particularly after Beaconsfield. This outer portion of the line is one of Melbourne's main growth corridors, which is rapidly replacing farmland with houses and adding many new passengers to the line each year.

Infrastructure

The Pakenham line branches from the Alamein, Belgrave, Glen Waverley and Lilydale lines at Richmond and shares four tracks with the Frankston line to Caulfield, running next to the Sandringham line as far as South Yarra.

From Caulfield the rest of the line is double track, with three platforms at Dandenong and Westall. There were plans to triplicate and possibly quadruplicate some sections of track (if not all) between Caulfield and Dandenong as part of the Dandenong railway line triplication project in around 2008.[2][3][4] This project has been dropped. Instead, it is currently proposed to quadruplicate the line from the Metro Tunnel portal near South Yarra to Dandenong. Automatic block signalling is provided throughout.

Intermediate terminating facilities are provided at Caulfield, Oakleigh, Westall, Springvale, Dandenong and Berwick. Stabling sidings for suburban trains are provided at Caulfield, Westall, Dandenong, Pakenham and Pakenham East, although those at Caulfield are not normally used. Oakleigh previously had two sidings, but these were out of use from 2003 and finally abolished at the end of May 2018. Westall features a train maintenance workshop, serviced for Siemens suburban trains. Pakenham East train maintenance depot features a dedicated workshop and commissioning facilities for the new High Capacity Metro Trains (HCMT).

Twelve level crossings were removed or are currently being removed by the Level Crossing Removal Authority. In conjunction with upgraded signalling, it is expected that more trains will be able to run during peak periods. As part of these works, several stations have been rebuilt.[5]

History

This section does not cite any sources. (June 2019)

The Pakenham line began as part of the main line to Gippsland, but at the time the route through the suburbs has not been determined, so the first portion to open was the section between Oakleigh and Bunyip (Gippsland) in October 1877. Oakleigh was connected to the city at South Yarra in April 1879.

The section from South Yarra to Hawksburn was duplicated from opening, and duplication was extended to Caulfield in 1881, Oakleigh in 1883, and Dandenong in 1891.

In 1915 the line from South Yarra to Caulfield was quadrupled, and it was possibly at the same time that this section of the line was lowered into a cutting to eliminate numerous level crossings. Power signalling was provided between Richmond and Hawksburn at the same time, then on to Caulfield in 1921.

Electrification of the line to Dandenong occurred in two stages in 1922. Power signalling was extended to Carnegie in 1933 and Oakleigh in 1940.

In 1954 the line beyond Dandenong was electrified mainly because of the expected briquette traffic from the brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley, and over the next two years most of the line between Dandenong and Pakenham was duplicated and provided with power signalling, although Narre Warren to Berwick was not done until 1962.

Oakleigh to Dandenong was converted to power signalling in stages from 1970 to 1972.

In 1975, suburban services were extended beyond Dandenong to Pakenham, which until then had only been served by the passenger trains connecting Gippsland to Melbourne.

In 2002, General Motors station closed and all trains ran express between Hallam and Dandenong.

On 1 March 2007, with the abolition of Zone 3, Pakenham was re-zoned to Zone 2 in the Melbourne Metropolitan rail system. This brought the cost of train fares down, improving accessibility to the public.

A new station at Cardinia Road opened in 2012.

In 2017, the Victorian government began work on the Metro Tunnel project, which will connect the southeastern Pakenham and Cranbourne lines to the western Sunbury line, forming the so-called 'Dandenong-Sunshine' line.[6]

Services

Between 31 January 2021 and 12 February 2022, all Pakenham line services ran express between South Yarra and Caulfield.[7] Since 13 February 2022, some off-peak daytime Pakenham line services (and Cranbourne line services) stop again at Malvern station, running express between South Yarra and Malvern stations[8]

During the weekday peaks, some services will also not stop at both Westall and Yarraman, and some services will originate and terminate at Westall or Dandenong. During the morning peak, these short services may also not stop at South Yarra outbound. On weekends between 5:45 pm and 7:45 pm, every second citybound service also operates as a shuttle between Pakenham and Dandenong, connecting with a Cranbourne line train.

All services run anticlockwise through the City Loop.[9] In 2025, Pakenham line services will cease to stop at South Yarra, Richmond, and the City Loop when trains are rerouted through the Metro Tunnel upon opening.

Victorian-built High Capacity Metro Trains began operating on the Pakenham line in December 2020. Pakenham is the first line to host these trains.[10]

v t e Pakenham line
Legend
h:mm km 0.0 Southern Cross ●●●●● Zone 1 1.3 Flagstaff ●●● 1.9 Melbourne Central 3.0 Parliament ●● 0:00 1.2 Flinders Street ●●●● 0:03 3.8 Richmond ●●●●●● 0:06 5.4 South Yarra ● 0:11 10.1 Malvern 0:13 11.8 Caulfield ●●● 0:15 13.5 Carnegie 0:17 14.4 Murrumbeena 0:19 15.4 Hughesdale Zone 1/2 0:21 16.6 Oakleigh 0:23 18.2 Huntingdale 0:26 20.4 Clayton ●● Zone 2 0:29 22.6 Westall 0:31 24.5 Springvale 0:33 25.6 Sandown Park 0:36 27.3 Noble Park 0:38 29.0 Yarraman 0:41 31.2 Dandenong ●●● 0:46 37.4 Hallam 0:50 40.7 Narre Warren 0:54 44.6 Berwick ● 0:56 47.0 Beaconsfield 1:00 51.4 Officer 1:03 55.8 Cardinia Road 1:11 58.1 Pakenham ●●
Standard timetabled journey direct from Flinders Street

Proposals

There have been calls to re-open General Motors station,[11][12] with new names suggested such as Dandenong South, Eumemmerring, and Doveton.

As part of the level crossing removal works at Main St, Pakenham, the line will be extended a further two kilometres with a new terminating station at Pakenham East.[13]

See also

• Dandenong railway line triplication
• Melbourne Metro Rail Project

References

External links

• Pakenham line timetable
• Official line map
• Network map
• Statistics and detailed schematic map at the VicSig enthusiast website

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