page_title: Railways in Melbourne
section_title: Modernisation
hierarchical_section_title: Railways in Melbourne / History / Modernisation
caption_attribution_description: The platforms for Melbourne's suburban train system at Southern Cross Station
context_page_description: The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Australia. It is the core of the larger Victorian railway network, with links to both intrastate and interstate systems. A large suburban passenger network centred on the CBD also operates, with a limited degree of segregation from longer-distance passenger and freight trains.
  The first steam train in Australia commenced service in Melbourne in 1854, with the network having grown over the last two centuries to consist of 220 stations across 16 lines, serving a yearly ridership of 243.2 million. Metro Trains Melbourne operates the Melbourne suburban railway network under franchise from the State Government of Victoria, whilst the government-owned entity V/Line operates trains from Melbourne across regional Victoria.
  The suburban network is a commuter rail system designed to transport passengers from Melbourne's suburbs into the Central Business District and associated city loop stations, with the main hub at Flinders Street station.
context_section_description: By the 1970s, Melbourne's railway network was run down, with the last major investment on the suburban tracks having taken place nearly fifty years earlier. Sixty-year-old Tait trains (known colloquially as "red rattlers") were still in operation, and inner city congestion at Flinders Street led to peak hour delays. In February 1971, the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Act was passed, establishing the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Authority (MURLA) to build a connecting series of tunnels from the major stations along the north, south, east and west extremities of the Melbourne CBD. The project ran for over 14 years, opening progressively between 1981 and 1985. The loop was designed and constructed to improve the capacity of Flinders Street and Spencer Street stations to handle suburban trains and to offer easier connections for users.
  Other major changes took place in 1976 when the government authority overseeing Victorian Railways became VicRail and was gradually restructured along corporate lines. Following the restructure, in 1980 the Victorian Transport Study, better known as the Lonie Report, was delivered and called for financial rationalisation. The closure of the Port Melbourne, St. Kilda, Altona, Williamstown, Alamein and Sandringham lines was also recommended, along with their replacement with bus routes instead. These recommendations and cuts were not enacted, however many uneconomical branch lines were closed throughout the rest of the state. The line between Lilydale and Healesville was closed in 1980, now used by the Yarra Valley Railway beyond Yarra Glen. The branch from Baxter to Mornington was closed in 1981, but the line south of Moorooduc is now operated by the Mornington Railway as a tourist route.
  The Metrol train control centre was opened in 1980 to coordinate trains throughout the network using computer software that remains in use today. Public transport in Melbourne was also reorganised, with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) formed in 1983 to coordinate all train, tram and bus services in the city to improve interoperability. With the electrification of the Werribee line in 1983, followed two years later by an extension of the Altona line to Laverton, and the City Loop in full operation by 1985, the last major modernisation of Melbourne's train lines in the 20th century was complete.
  Isolated from the City Loop, the Port Melbourne and St Kilda lines were converted to standard gauge light rail in 1987 to accommodate tram routes 111 (now route 109) and 96. The route 96 remains one of the world's top 10 tram routes, and Melbourne's busiest.
  The early 1990s saw further changes, with the MTA reborn as the Public Transport Corporation, trading as "The Met".
  State Governments of both sides of politics began to push for reform of the railway network, proposing conversion of the Upfield, Williamstown and Alamein lines to light rail. These proposals failed, with the Upfield line instead receiving a series of upgrades to replace labour-intensive manual signalling systems. Federal government funding was made available for the electrification of the Cranbourne line, which was completed in 1995. Rationalisation of the Jolimont rail yard commenced, enabling the creation and expansion of Melbourne Park in 1988 and 1996, and the future construction of Federation Square in 2001.
  Upon the Kennett Government's election in 1992, a number of controversial reforms to the operation of the railway system were initiated, with guards being abolished from suburban trains and train drivers taking over the task of door operation. Stations were de-manned, and the Metcard ticketing system was introduced to phase out the old scratch ticketing system. Over this period more than $250 million of operating cost was stripped from the Melbourne network, as the government sought to reign in growing state debt of $32 Billion.
caption: The modern Southern Cross station
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