The Williamstown railway line is a 16.2 km commuter rail passenger train service in Melbourne, Australia, operating between Williamstown in the western suburbs to Flinders Street in the central business district. It runs across flat coastal land and therefore has no significant earthworks. From the junction at Newport to the next station of North Williamstown, it runs beside the Newport Workshops, and from there through mainly old residential areas. The line used to continue a short distance to Williamstown Pier, around which there is heavy industrial areas including shipbuilding.

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Williamstown
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Current operator(s)	Metro Trains
Route
Termini	Williamstown Frankston via Flinders street
Stops	12
Distance travelled	16.2 km (10.1 mi)
Average journey time	39 minutes
Service frequency	Every 20 minutes Through services stopping all stations throughout the day except evenings (shuttle) Double frequency at daytime between Newport and Flinders Street in combination with Werribee line local services 60 minutes early weekend mornings
Line(s) used	Williamstown City Loop
On-board services
Disabled access	Yes
Technical
Rolling stock	Comeng, Siemens, X'Trapolis 100
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner(s)	VicTrack
Route map Legend 16.2 Williamstown Pier (closed) 15.5 Williamstown 1 14.4 Williamstown Beach 1 13.5 North Williamstown 1 12.5 Newport Workshops Warrnambool line to ● Werribee Western line to ● Adelaide Parklands 11.8 Newport ● 1 Newport–Sunshine line to Sunshine Western line to ● Southern Cross 10.5 Spotswood 1 West Gate Freeway Stony Creek 8.8 Yarraville 1 7.9 Seddon 1 Deniliquin line ●●●●●●●● via Middle Footscray North East and Western lines to ● Albury, Central (Sydney) & Adelaide Parklands 6.1 Footscray ●●●●●●●●■ 1 Maribyrnong River Melbourne Metro Tunnel under construction 4.7 South Kensington 1 Tocumwal line ●●●● via Kensington CityLink Moonee Ponds Creek Upfield line to ● Upfield 2.9 North Melbourne ●●●●●● 1 City Loop ●●●●●●●●●●●●●● via Flagstaff 1.2 Southern Cross ●●●●●●●●● 1 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●●●●●●●●●● 1 City Loop ●●●●●●●●●●●●●● via Parliament Hurstbridge line to ● Hurstbridge & ● Mernda Multiple lines ●●●●●●●●●● via Richmond This diagram: view talk edit

Infrastructure

The Williamstown Line shares tracks with the Werribee line between Flinders Street and Newport. The line is double track throughout, except for Williamstown station, and provided with automatic block signalling.[1] There are no intermediate terminating facilities. Stabling facilities are provided within the grounds of the Newport workshops.

Services

Trains on the Williamstown line stop all stations. In general, trains run every 20 minutes during regular hours. As the Werribee and Williamstown lines merge at Newport towards Flinders Street, frequency is doubled. Regular 10-minute intervals are formed of Williamstown and Laverton (via Altona) services.[2] Shuttle services between Newport and Williamstown occur in the evenings, weekend mornings, and as part of the Night Network.[3] Newport is where passengers change into trains to or from the city. These shuttles are operated as 3 car train-sets. Inbound shuttles terminate on platform 1 at Newport and are stored in a siding on the city side of the station. The siding allow trains to reverse and form outbound Williamstown shuttle services departing from platform 2.

Station List

Legend – Stations

• ◼ Premium Station – Station staffed from first to last train
• ◻ Host Station – Usually staffed during morning peak, however this can vary for different stations on the network.

Legend – Stopping Patterns

• ● – All trains stop

Interactive map of the Williamstown line in western Melbourne.

History and future

Although it is now operated as a branch from the main Werribee/Geelong line at Newport, the line was originally built from the city, with the Geelong line being the branch. The line officially opened in January 1859, but the section between the vicinity of the Newport workshops and Williamstown Pier was in use by Geelong-line trains from October 1857 (see the history of the Werribee line for more information).

The line was electrified in August 1920, but little further change to the infrastructure took place until the section from Williamstown to Williamstown Pier closed in March 1987. Automatic Block signalling was provided in August 1997.

With the electrification of the Werribee line in 1983, many of the Williamstown Pier services became shuttle services from Newport instead of through services from Flinders Street.[4]

The January 2021 timetable rewrite resulted in previous weekend daytime shuttle services being extended from Newport to Flinders Street. Peak hour weekday services now stop at South Kensington, which simplifies stopping patterns on the Werribee Line.[5]

The level crossing at Ferguson Street, adjacent to North Williamstown Station, is currently earmarked for removal by the Level Crossing Removal Authority. The crossing is expected to be fully removed by 2022.[6]

References

External links

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