This page documents details concerning trains in the suburbs of Melbourne.

Train Types

There have been different classes of trains used in Melbourne.

Discontinued train types

• Steam trains: Mostly dead. Only tourist trains like Puffing Billy remain.
• Swing door trains:

Taits were built for electrification, although the first ones were steam-hauled until the electrification was ready. Swing-Door carriages were pre-electrification vehicles modified for electric services because demand outstripped the supply of Tait trains. So Swing-Door trains were never (as far as electric services were concerned) the main train, either in terms of numbers nor in terms of being the newest trains.

— John of Melbourne, "Train Utilization in the Past" Railpage, 2005-03-19

• Tait trains: Also known as red trains.
• Harris trains: Also known as blue trains. Noted for being very cool, if not freezing. In Winter it was sometimes possible to close the doors in order to retain a bit of heat, thanks to the blue asbestos insulation. Also see a aus.rail thread, and VICSIG article. The Harris trains had numerous problems and where eventually scrapped (''Harris Problems'').
• 4D train: Melbourne's one and only double decker train. Officially scrapped at Sims Metal, Brooklyn Melbourne Victoria, for reasons that are unclear (''I want 4D back in to service''). RIP.

Current train types

• Hitachi trains: This train is an automatic train. That is the doors automatically close, unless an obstacle is in the way. The doors are always in a hurry to close, too. Unfortunately, since the death of the blue trains the culture of forcing doors has died too. This means it is no longer possible to experience the once-in-a-lifetime event of slipping on a banana skin on a slippery floor and flying out head first through an open door while the train is racing along at full speed. As such, these trains are currently being discarded at Bendigo. Also see related threads: [reference] , and [reference] .
• Comeng trains: The automatic doors are more patient on these trains and don't smash close. The air conditioning also ensures Latrobe Valley remains nice and polluted, due to significant increase in electricity consumption.
• X'Trapolis trains: Square shape, square windows, square design.
• Siemens trains: Only have two doors per side per carriage. These trains don't travel on the Glen Waverley, Alamein, Belgrave or Lilydale lines.

The other reason that Siemens and X'Traps don't run everywhere is simply because their on board PID systems don't have the information for the other half of the network in them yet- the Siemens only have information for the Northern and Caulfield groups, and the X'Traps only have the information for the Burnley and Clifton Hill groups. From what I have heard, this should be fixable on the Siemens, but the X'Trap PIDs apparently have insufficient memory for more information without extensive, and expensive, modifications. So I'm betting that Siemens will eventually run network wide- X'Traps may never do so.

— Alstom_boy, "Siemens Xtrap line use" VICSIG, 2006-06-23

Restrictions

When the Comeng trains arrived, they were not permitted to operate on the Flemington Racecourse line. So when the minister wanted to travel to the Show by train, and railway management (or the minister?) wanted that to be on the latest train, they had to have special permission to run the Comeng train there (the problem was clearances, mainly if two Comeng trains passed each other on a curve. Allowing only one Comeng train to go on the line avoided that problem). And these days neither the Siemens nor the X'trapolis is permitted to go there. So the railways' chance to show of their newest trains to people who might only use the trains on those occasions has often not been available.

— John of Melbourne, "Train Utilization in the Past" Railpage, 2005-03-19

Train Lines

• All train lines.
• Closed lines.

Design of train lines

• Design flaw requires out-bound trains on the Hurstbridge/Epping lines to cross over in the AM peak period, causing the out-bound trains to wait for in-bound trains to go into the loop (.karl., "Future of Connex" VICSIG, 2006-07-02 ). This is because the loop portal was placed next to the down track instead of between the up track and the down tracks (Alstom_boy, "Future of Connex" VICSIG, 2006-07-04 ).

Stations

• All stations.
• Not yet closed stations
• Closed stations
• Proposed stations.

Flinders Street

Before 2007-09-30:

Flemington/Showgrounds during Royal Show

Flemington/Showgrounds during Royal Show

Platform 10/11 were used for St Kilda and Port Melbourne trains until the 1980s when they were converted to light rail. At some stage after that they removed the track to platform 11.

After 2007-09-30:

Historic images:

• This picture shows the old building being renovated circa 1964.
• This is how it looked from the 60s until its demolition.

Track layout

• 1975 - before city loop.
• 1985
• 1995 - after city loopl before federation square.
• 2008 - present.

Excuses

• defective train
• defective train arriving at Flinders Street station
• vandalised train
• late arrival at Flinders Street station
• intruder/trespasser on tracks
• incident at
• near miss at
• signal failure at
• points failure at
• (most common)
• Shortage of drivers
• Rain
• Overcrowding at Flinders Street station
• Buckling of track due to high temperatures

Scheduling

Trains in Sydney (and probably elsewhere) are scheduled to run slow in order to reduce the number of late trains (The Flying Frog, "CityRail" aus.rail, 2006-09-28 ). This gives passengers a smoother, more comfortable ride (C. Dewick, "CityRail" aus.rail, 2006-09-29 ).

Network expansion may be responsible for slower speeds (C. Dewick, "CityRail" aus.rail, 2006-09-30 ), but trains are also getting faster acceleration, signalling systems keep getting better, and IR laws allow more flexibility in train crewing and shifts (Chris Bell, "CityRail" aus.rail, 2006-09-30 ).

Also see the Australian Association of TimeTable Collectors website.

AS THE annual patronage on Melbourne's trains climbs through 180 million, it may only be a year or two before we reach the record of 201 million set in 1951. And yet our Government seems to be approaching this milestone not so much with delight as with fear and trepidation (The Age, 7/9). How can it be that our train system carried so many people into the city 50 years ago, with red rattlers, no City Loop and only six platforms at Richmond instead of 10, and yet struggles so much now? Sure, there were more people travelling off-peak then, but this can be only part of the answer.

In fact, there are two crucial things our public transport system had in the first half of the 20th century that are missing today. One is the planning and management know-how to sustain reliable operations with high and growing passenger volumes. The other is an overriding concern for passenger service, as opposed to bureaucratic convenience or cost-cutting. These qualities do still exist today, but only in cities beyond Melbourne that have not offloaded their planning responsibilities to private operators. It is time we invited some of these planners to sort out our public transport mess, as it is clear neither Connex nor our defeatist bureaucracy have a clue.

— Tony Morton, "Some '50s service would fix the trains" The Age, 2007-09-08

Past Events

• Steam train replaces X'trapolis service, see photos.

When an X'trapolis set broke down at Eltham, Sunday 2006-09-03, passengers from Hurstbridge to Eltham were advised to use the steam shuttle being run by Steamrail, which consisted of a 65 year old K class steam locomotive hauling five wooden-bodied carriages.

— Paul, "Steam Saves the Day" aus.rail, 2006-09-05

• Mountain highway level crossing works, and upgrading of track switching equipment at Upper Ferntree Gully, Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September 2006. Buses to replace trains [reference] .
• A driver gets angry when a passenger holds open the doors of the train (Stephen Moynihan, "Train driver calls a halt over door shenanigans" The Age, 2006-03-17 ). Another driver responds with his opinions on the correct attitudes for the job (Mark, "More power to the drivers!!!!" aus.rail, 2006-03-20 ).