Pakenham railway line, Melbourne

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The Pakenham railway line in Melbourne, Australia is the suburban electrified portion of the railway to Bairnsdale in eastern Gippsland. In addition to suburban electric trains, it carries diesel passenger trains and goods trains to Gippsland.

1 Description
2 Infrastructure
3 History
4 List of stations
5 External links, maps, and timetables

[edit] 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. Also, it encounters some gentle hills between Narre Warren and Beaconsfield which require some more extensive earthworks to negotiate. After Caulfield, the line has numerous level crossings, as well as some bridges over and under roads.

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.

However, this outer portion of the line is one of Melbourne's main growth corridors, which is rapidly replacing the farms with houses and adding many new riders to the line each year.

[edit] Infrastructure

The Pakenham line shares four tracks with the Frankston line from near Richmond to Caulfield, running next to the Sandringham line as far as South Yarra.

From Caulfield the rest of the line is double-tracked, although there are plans to add a third track between Caulfield and 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, Oakleigh, Westall, Dandenong, and Pakenham, although those at Caulfield and Oakleigh are not normally used. Westall is also the location of a suburban train maintenance workshop.

[edit] History

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 quraduplicated, 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.