Belgrave line

Belgrave line
Belgrave station, the terminus of the Belgrave line, which provides an interchange with heritage railway Puffing Billy.
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
System	Melbourne railway network
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
First service	4 December 1889; 134 years ago (1889-12-04)
Current operator(s)	Metro Trains
Former operator(s)	Victorian Railways (VR) (1889–1974) VR as VicRail (1974–1983) MTA (The Met) (1983–1989) PTC (The Met) (1989–1998) Hillside Trains (1998–2000) Connex Melbourne (2000–2009)
Website	Official website
Route
Termini	Flinders Street Belgrave
Stops	31 (including City Loop stations)
Distance travelled	41.386 km (25.716 mi)
Average journey time	1 hour 7 minutes (not via City Loop)
Service frequency	15–30 minutes weekdays peak 30 minutes weekdays off-peak 20 minutes weekend daytime 30 minutes nights 60 minutes early weekend mornings Double frequency between Flinders Street and Ringwood in combination with Lilydale line Extra services run between Flinders Street and either Blackburn or Ringwood on weekdays
Technical
Rolling stock	X'Trapolis 100
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner(s)	VicTrack
Route map Legend h:mm km zone 1.2 Southern Cross ●●●●●●● 1 1.3 Flagstaff ●●● 1.9 Melbourne Central 3.0 Parliament ●● 0:00 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●● 0:03 2.6 Richmond ●●●●●●■ 0:05 3.1 East Richmond ■■ 0:07 4.1 Burnley ●■ 0:09 5.7 Hawthorn ■ 0:11 6.9 Glenferrie ■ 0:13 7.7 Auburn 0:15 9.0 Camberwell ●■ 0:17 9.8 East Camberwell 1 0:19 11.0 Canterbury 1/2 0:21 11.7 Chatham 0:23 12.9 Union 1/2 0:27 14.9 Box Hill ■ 2 0:29 16.6 Laburnum 0:31 17.4 Blackburn 0:34 19.5 Nunawading 0:36 21.2 Mitcham 0:39 23.2 Heatherdale 0:42 24.5 Ringwood ● 0:45 26.9 Heathmont 0:48 29.5 Bayswater 0:51 32.1 Boronia 0:54 34.7 Ferntree Gully 0:58 36.4 Upper Ferntree Gully 1:02 38.9 Upwey 1:04 40.1 Tecoma 1:07 41.3 Belgrave 2 h:mm km zone This diagram: view talk edit

The Belgrave line is a commuter railway line on the Melbourne metropolitan railway network serving the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.^[1] Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, the line is coloured dark blue and is one of the four lines that constitute the Burnley group. It is the city's fourth-longest metropolitan railway line at 41.8 kilometres (26.0 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Belgrave station in the cities east, serving 31 stations via Burnley, Box Hill, Ringwood, and Upper Ferntree Gully.^[2] Beyond Belgrave, the narrow-gauge line has been restored as the Puffing Billy Railway, which runs tourist services to the original terminus of Gembrook.

The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day (from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 am) with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hours, headways of up to 15 minutes are operated, with services every 20–30 minutes during off-peak hours.^[3] Trains on the Belgrave line run in a two three-car formations of X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.^[4]

Sections of the Belgrave line opened as early as 1889, with the line fully extended and re-gauged to Belgrave by 1962. The line was built to connect Melbourne and Ringwood with the rural towns of Bayswater, Boronia, Upper Ferntree Gully, and Belgrave, among others.

Since the 2010s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Belgrave line, significant improvements and upgrades have been made. Different packages of work have upgraded the corridor to replace sleepers, upgraded signalling technology, introduced new rolling stock, and removed seven of the nine remaining level crossings.^[5]