Western standard gauge railway line

The Western standard gauge railway line is a standard-gauge railway line in western Victoria, Australia. Completed in 1995, it forms part of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor and serves as the principal interstate rail link between Victoria and the western states. The line replaced a number of former broad gauge routes which were gauge converted, and today sees both intrastate and interstate freight traffic, as well as the twice weekly (in each direction) The Overland passenger service. Major towns on the route include Geelong, Ararat, Horsham and Dimboola.

The first inter-capital link between Melbourne and South Australia was completed in 1887 when the Victorian Railways line was extended to Serviceton on the state border.^[1] Known as the Serviceton line, it passed westward from Melbourne through Geelong, Ballarat, Ararat, Stawell, Horsham and Dimboola. In 1889, the direct Melbourne–Ballarat route was opened.^[2]

In the 1970s, most interstate lines in Australia began to be converted to standard gauge. By the 1990s, with Adelaide to Melbourne the only interstate link not converted, various proposals were made for gauge conversion. Two main options were put forward:

• via Ballarat: a new track or dual gauge to Ballarat, then conversion of the line west
• via Geelong: a new track to Geelong, dual gauge to Gheringhap, then conversion of the line via Cressy, followed by conversion of the line from Ararat.

Businesses and industry in Geelong and Ballarat wanted to be on the main interstate route. However, the Geelong route prevailed because although it was the longer of the two, it avoided the steep grades of the Ballarat route. The line via Geelong was converted in 1995 with funding from the Federal Government's One Nation infrastructure program. The secondary Portland, Yaapeet and Hopetoun lines were also converted, and a dual-gauge link was provided to Maryborough to permit grain from the north-west to reach the port at Portland.

The line is standard gauge, except for dual gauge on the Newport – Sunshine freight line, and where it follows the Geelong – Ballarat line. It is single track throughout, with numerous 1500 metre long crossing loops.^[3] The line uses Centralised Traffic Control to direct trains. The line is owned by VicTrack and since 1997 has been managed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation.^[4]

The main traffic on the line is Melbourne – Adelaide interstate freight, with trains operated by Pacific National and SCT Logistics. Grain services are also operated on an irregular basis by Pacific National and One Rail Australia.^[5] A local container freight service also operates from Melbourne to Horsham by SCT Logistics for Wimmera Container Lines.^[6] Until July 2008 it was operated by Pacific National, who cancelled it in April then gave it a three-month reprieve.^[7][8] Aurizon and Qube operated the Horsham service until 2014, when it was replaced by SCT's Dooen service, which is where the new container terminal open. For a number of months, both services operated until the Horsham terminal closed down. The only passenger service is The Overland twice weekly (formerly three times weekly until 2013 due to dropping numbers).^{[citation needed]}

The line leaves the North East railway line at Tottenham, then runs south via the dual gauged Newport – Sunshine freight line. From Newport, the line runs parallel to the Warrnambool as far as the North Geelong junction, where the line joins the dual-gauge Geelong–Ballarat line. The line proceeds northwest as far as Gheringhap, where the line branches off as the Gheringhap–Maroona line westwards until it meets the Portland line at Maroona, and heads north to Ararat where it rejoins the former main line.

v t e Western standard gauge railway line
Legend
km Multiple lines via Flinders Street 0.0 Southern Cross ● Melbourne Freight Terminal City Loop | Webb Dock line (dismantled) Victoria Dock (North wharf) (demolished) Melbourne Yard & Steel Terminal | Victoria Dock (old) (all demolished) 2.29 Moonee Ponds Creek Dynon–Tottenham line section Dynon–Tottenham line section CityLink | Victoria Dock (Westgate) Appleton Dock South Dynon | Swanson Dock North Dynon 4.71 Maribyrnong River 4.94 tunnel under Bunbury Street Whitehall Street Multiple lines to Southern Cross or Flinders Street Footscray Werribee & Williamstown lines to Newport 6.71 Geelong Road (Princes Highway) Tottenham Yard & Tottenham 8.92 Ashley Street 9.11 Tottenham loop Dynon–Tottenham line section North East line to Albury Multiple lines to Sunshine Newport–Sunshine line section Newport–Sunshine line section to Sunshine 11.71 Somerville Road 12.57 Geelong Road (Princes Highway) 12.96 Francis Street (Docklands Highway) 14.01 West Gate Freeway 15.05 UGL 15.82 Melbourne Road Sadleirs 16.19 ANZAC Siding Newport–Sunshine line section Werribee & Williamstown lines to Southern Cross Newport Port Fairy line section Port Fairy line section 16.77 Melbourne Road 20.36 Millers Road 20.60 CRT Siding 21.30 Kororoit Creek 21.69 TDG Siding 21.94 Kororoit Creek Road 23.76 Maidstone Street 25.13 Laverton loop 26.46 SCT Laverton 26.69 Princes Freeway Werribee 37.90 Werribee River 43.55 Manor loop Geelong service to Southern Cross (Deer Park–West Werribee line) 53.86 Little River 66.46 Elders loop 67.97 Princes Freeway (Geelong Ring Road) 72.95 North Shore ● Grain loop & North Shore Sidings Port Fairy line to Geelong (North Geelong yard) Port Fairy line section Geelong–Ballarat line section Geelong–Ballarat line section Anakie Road loop 82.54 Princes Freeway (Geelong Ring Road) Moorabool loop 86.92 Moorabool River Geelong–Ballarat line section 90.61 Gheringhap & Gheringhap loop 91.54 Midland Highway Geelong–Ballarat line to Ballarat Gheringhap–Maroona line section Gheringhap–Maroona line section 103.96 Hamilton Highway 107.35 Barwon River 108.68 Inverleigh 113.36 Barwon Park loop 127.21 Wingeel loop 146.10 Hamilton Highway 147.21 Woady Yaloak River 154.60 Hamilton Highway 160.17 Berrybank & Berrybank loop 180.10 Tooli loop 183.38 Hamilton Highway 196.21 Vite Vite loop 221.13 Westmere & Westmere loop 221.40 Glenelg Highway 240.01 Tatyoon & Tatyoon loop 250.67 Hopkins River Gheringhap–Maroona line section Portland line to Portland 252.49 Maroona Portland line section (for original BG line see Portland line) Portland line section (for original BG line see Portland line) 253.53 Hopkins River Hopkins River 272.33 Western Highway Portland line section Ararat service to Southern Cross (Serviceton line) Avoca line to Maryborough 273.74 Ararat ● Serviceton line section (for original BG line see Serviceton line) Serviceton line section (for original BG line see Serviceton line) 273.77 Pyrenees Highway 277.13 Pyrenees loop 285.17 Western Highway 296.17 Great Western loop 297.63 Western Highway 303.77 Stawell ● 318.27 Deep Lead loop 321.63 Wimmera River 324.22 Glenorchy 344.29 Lubeck 358.96 Marmalake 360.13 Wimmera Highway 360.88 Murtoa Hopetoun line to Hopetoun 367.29 Murtoa loop 369.56 Yarriambiack Creek 371.56 Jung 376.66 Wimmera Highway 379.01 Wimmera Intermodal 381.59 Dooen (closed) 381.84 Henty / Wimmera Highways 389.85 Horsham ● 398.87 Dahlen (closed) 406.16 Pimpinio (closed) 411.14 Pimpinio loop 415.03 Western Highway 415.36 Wail (closed) 424.33 Dimboola ● 426.26 Western Highway Yaapeet line to Yaapeet 428.16 Dimboola Silos & Dimboola loop 431.65 Wimmera River 440.99 Gerang Gerung (closed) 449.00 Kiata (closed) 451.92 Salisbury loop 462.26 Nhill ● 473.77 Tarranginnie (closed) 478.95 Diapur & Diapur loop 491.52 Miram (closed) 496.75 Kaniva loop 500.98 Kaniva (closed) 503.06 Western Highway 511.34 Lillimur 520.21 Leeor loop Serviceton line section 524.26 Serviceton (closed) 526.13 Victoria South Australia border 531.76 Wolseley Adelaide–Wolseley line to Adelaide
broad gauge standard gauge dual gauge