Frankston railway line

Frankston
Overview
Type	Melbourne suburban service
System	Metro Trains Melbourne & Freight to Long Island
Connecting lines	Sandringham, Pakenham, Cranbourne and Stony Point lines
Former connections	Rosstown Railway
Services	Stops all stations, with express services during peak
Operation
Completed	1882
Rolling stock	Comeng, Siemens, X'Trapolis 100
Technical
Line length	42.7 km (26.5 mi)
Number of tracks	Quadruple to Caulfield, Triple to Moorabbin, then remainder - Double Track
Route map
	melbourne railways map.gif

The Frankston railway line is a bayside suburban electrified railway in Melbourne, Australia. The line runs from the City Loop to Frankston and continues on to Stony Point as the Stony Point line (not yet electrified). Apart from suburban electric trains, the tracks are also used for rail freight transport to and from the steel mills at Hastings. The Frankston line is part of Melbourne's PTV integrated ticketing system, running in Myki Zones 1 and 2.

Description

The Frankston line runs south from Caulfield, functioning from the main line to Pakenham and Gippsland, and runs through built-up areas for its entire length. From Mentone the line is never more than about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) from the eastern shore of Port Phillip, and runs alongside the Nepean Highway for much of its length.

After Caulfield, the line traverses flat country and has fairly minor earthworks, and has numerous level crossings. The level crossing near Glenhuntly station is one of Melbourne's three remaining crossings with tram tracks, and the only one with three railway tracks crossing two tramway tracks.

Infrastructure

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

From Caulfield, the Frankston line has three tracks to Moorabbin. The centre track is signalled for bidirectional operation, allowing for express trains overtaking stopping trains in the peak direction. From Moorabbin to Frankston the line is double track.

Power signalling is provided throughout, and intermediate terminating facilities are provided at Moorabbin, Cheltenham, Mordialloc, and Carrum. Stabling facilities for suburban trains are provided at Mordialloc, Carrum, and Frankston.

Services

A complete journey between Flinders Street and Frankston stations takes approximately 75 minutes. In peak times express trains are run from Frankston, using the triplicated track to overtake movements of all-station services. Additional stopping all stations trains operate to supplement the express patterns. In off peak periods, trains stop at all stations.

Stopping patterns

On weekdays, most services stop all stations and run direct to and from Flinders Street. Citybound morning peak services and outbound evening peak services run express between South Yarra and Cheltenham, stopping at Caulfield and (only for morning citybound services) Malvern. Some citybound morning services also serve Southland, Highett, and Moorabbin before running express. All services run direct to and from Flinders Street on weekdays also extend beyond Flinders Street to Werribee, Laverton or Williamstown on the Werribee and Williamstown lines.

During the morning peak, citybound express services are supplemented by all-stations services running anticlockwise through the City Loop, with some originating from either Carrum, Mordialloc, Cheltenham or Moorabbin. Outbound services either stop all stations or run express from South Yarra to Caulfield, with select services terminating at Moorabbin, Mordialloc or Carrum. During the evening peak, outbound all-stations services run clockwise through the City Loop, with most services terminating at Cheltenham, Mordialloc or Carrum. Citybound services stop at all stations from Frankston.

Weekend early morning services run direct to and from Flinders Street, and run anticlockwise through the City Loop for the rest of the day.

Between November 2015 and June 2016, weekday express services were temporarily stopping at all stations between Caulfield and Cheltenham due to the closure of the third track for the removal of level crossings between that section.^[1]

History

The line from Caulfield to Mordialloc opened in December 1881 and was extended to Frankston in August 1882. It was electrified in three stages between March and August 1922.

Power signalling of the line was begun in 1933 with the section from Caulfield to Glenhuntly, and the remainder of the line was converted in a number of stages from 1958 to 1986. Amplification of the line from Caulfield to Moorabbin to three tracks was announced by then Transport Minister Steve Crabb in 1984, at a cost of $10 million to save 10 minutes on travel times from Frankston. Work begun in July that year and was due for completion by the end of 1985.^[2] However, it did not enter service until June 1986, with three track working commencing in July the same year.^[3] Plans in the 1970s included the third track to extend to Mordialloc, however those plans did not eventuate.^[4]

The current bridge over the Patterson River was provided in 1974, replacing the previous trestle bridge.^[5]

On 1 March 2007, Zone 3 in the Melbourne Metropolitan rail system was abolished (see Metcard). All stations between Patterson and Frankston are now in Zone 2.

In their "People Plan" for the 2010 Victorian election, the Australian Greens proposed to extend electrification of the Frankston/Stony Point Line and add new stations at Langwarrin and Mornington onto the suburban train network, allowing for increased capacity, increased frequency and easier integration.^[6]

At the 2010 state election, both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party promised to provide a new Premium station between Highett and Cheltenham, to serve the Westfield Southland shopping centre.^[7] The station was to cost $13-million, would have had two platforms, and was predicted to be used by 1,400 passengers daily. The project was scheduled for completion by 2014,^[8] but nothing was done until after the 2014 state election. The Station opened on 26 November 2017.^[9]

In the early 2010s, the line, along with the Werribee and Williamstown lines, was upgraded as part of the Bayside Rail Project. The upgrade included station refurbishments, track, signal and electrical upgrades to allow X'Trapolis trains to operate on the line.^[10]

In 2017 the Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy pledged to extend the Frankston train line to Baxter which would include making it electrified like the majority of Melbourne's train lines. ^[11]

Line guide

Frankston Line

h:mm

continues as Werribee/Williamstown lines

0.0 km

Southern Cross (SSS) ●●●●●

Zone 1

1.3 km

Flagstaff (FGE) ●●●

1.9 km

Melbourne Central (MCE)

3.0 km

Parliament (PAR) ●●