Rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 2,357 km of Victorian broad gauge lines, and 1,912 km of standard gauge freight and interstate lines; the latter increasing with gauge conversion of the former. Historically, a few experimental 762 mm gauge lines were built, along with various private logging, mining and industrial railways. The rail network radiates from the state capital, Melbourne, with main interstate links to Sydney and to Adelaide, as well as major lines running to regional centres, upgraded as part of the Regional Fast Rail project.
Mallee Highway is a highway in south-eastern South Australia and north-western Victoria, running mostly across the Mallee plains. It forms part of the shortest route between Adelaide and Sydney.
Australians generally assumed in the 1850s that railways would be built by the private sector. Private companies built railways in the then colonies of Victoria, opened in 1854, and New South Wales, where the company was taken over by the government before completion in 1855, due to bankruptcy. South Australia's railways were government owned from the beginning, including a horse-drawn line opened in 1854 and a steam-powered line opened in 1856. In Victoria, the private railways were soon found not to be financially viable, and existing rail networks and their expansion were taken over by the colony. Government ownership also enabled railways to be built to promote development, even if not apparently viable in strictly financial terms. The railway systems spread from the colonial capitals, except for a few lines that hauled commodities to a rural port.
The first railway in colonial South Australia was a line from the port of Goolwa on the River Murray to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot, which first operated in December 1853, before its completion in May 1854.
Pinnaroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, near the border with Victoria, 243 km east of Adelaide. Pinnaroo is on the north side of the Mallee Highway, and on the railway line between Tailem Bend and Ouyen. The roadhouse on the highway at Pinnaroo is the first "food and leg-stretch" stop on the bus route from Adelaide to Sydney.
Murrayville is a town on the section of the Mallee Highway and Pinnaroo railway line between Ouyen and the South Australian border. It is about 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of the South Australian border and 536 kilometres (333 mi) north west of the state capital Melbourne, but 268 kilometres (167 mi) east of Adelaide. At the 2016 census, Murrayville had a population of 280, down from 444 ten years before.
Ouyen is a town in Victoria, Australia, located in the Rural City of Mildura at the junction of the Calder Highway and Mallee Highway, 105 kilometres (65 mi) south of Mildura, and 441 km (274 mi) northwest of Melbourne. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 1,045.
Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent since the 19th century. As of 2022, there are 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow-gauge railways, 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge railways and 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge railways. In the 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges.
Ararat railway station is located on the Serviceton and Western standard gauge lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Ararat, and opened on 7 April 1875.
Ouyen is a closed railway station in Ouyen, on the Mildura railway line, in Victoria, Australia. The station is the junction for the Pinnaroo line westward to Panitya and Pinnaroo.
The Mildura railway line is a heavy rail line in northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Yelta station to Ballarat station via the settlements of Mildura, Ouyen and Maryborough in an approximate south-southeasterly direction. Initial sections of the line opened from Ballarat in 1874 and the line reached Mildura in 1903.
Tutye is a locality situated on the section of the Mallee Highway between Ouyen and the South Australian border in the Sunraysia region of Victoria, Australia. The place by road, is situated about 9 kilometres southeast from Boinka and 12 kilometres northwest from Cowangie.
The Robinvale railway line is a freight only country railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. The line branches from the Mildura line at Dunolly, and at Inglewood the Eaglehawk – Inglewood line connects with the Piangil line outside Bendigo. The parallel Kulwin line junctions from the Robinvale line at Korong Vale then continues northward.
The Shire of Walpeup was a local government area in northwestern Victoria, Australia, along the South Australian border. The shire covered an area of 10,964 square kilometres (4,233.2 sq mi), and existed from 1911 until 1995.
The Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor is a railway corridor that runs 828 kilometres (514 mi) between the cities of Melbourne, Victoria and Adelaide, South Australia. Most of the current traffic is freight; the only passenger train along the entire route is the twice-weekly passenger service The Overland, operated by Journey Beyond.
The Maryborough–Avoca–Ararat railway is a railway line in western Victoria, Australia. It is one of the few railway lines in the state to have been closed and then reopened. Today it is a standard gauge branch line connecting the Western SG with Bung Bong (ballast) and Dunolly (grain), running through Maryborough station.
The Adelaide–Wolseley railway line is a 313 kilometre line running from Adelaide to Wolseley on the Australian Rail Track Corporation network. It is the South Australian section of the Melbourne–Adelaide railway.
The Pinnaroo railway line ran east from the Adelaide to Melbourne line at Tailem Bend to Pinnaroo near the South Australia / Victoria state border. The route continues into Victoria via the Victorian Railways line to Ouyen where it joined the Mildura line.
Mount Gambier–Heywood railway line is a 5 ft 3 in line located in Australia which operated from 27 November 1917 to 11 April 1995 between Mount Gambier in the state of South Australia and Heywood in the state of Victoria. It is one of two railway lines built by both state governments following an agreement in 1912 to connect to each other's railway networks. There has been calls for standardisation over the past two decades from Heywood to Wolseley since the Melbourne to Adelaide line was converted in 1995.
The Murray Basin Rail Project is a major railway project in the north-west of Victoria, Australia. The project includes the conversion of a substantial portion of the Victorian freight rail network from the historical broad gauge to the standard gauge used in other parts of Australia, and the upgrading of track to enable higher axle loads for more efficient intrastate freight transfer.
