Portland railway line

Last updated

Portland railway line
Overview
Locale Victoria, Australia
Termini
Service
Typefreight
Operator(s) ARTC
History
Opened1877 (1877)
Converted to Standard Gauge1995
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Old gauge1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Operating speed80 km/h (50 mph) [1]
Route map

Contents

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at Ararat station
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Langi Logan
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Jacksons Loop
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224.1 km
Maroona
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Gheringhap–Maroona line
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Calvert
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240.7 km
Willaura
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Stavely
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261.2 km
Glen Thompson
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277.3 km
Dunkeld
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at Penshurst-Dunkeld line
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288.8 km
Moutajup
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Grampians Loop
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Strathkellar
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309.7 km
Hamilton
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Coleraine Junction
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Coleraine and Koroit lines.
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Casterton line
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335.1 km
Branxholme
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348.4 km
Condah
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353.2 km
Myamyn
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Milltown
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Mount Gambier line
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369.7 km
Heywood
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Heathmere
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388.6 km
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396.7 km
Portland

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The Portland railway line is a railway line in south-western Victoria, Australia. It runs from the main Western standard gauge line at Maroona through Hamilton to the port town of Portland.

History

The line was built as 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) (broad gauge) from Ararat to Maroona, Hamilton, Heywood and Portland, and opened in 1877. [2] It was converted to standard gauge in 1995. [1]

Freight operator Pacific National indefinitely suspended all rail services to Portland in 2004, affecting local companies including Portland Aluminium, transport company Kalari, and freight broker Anchor Logistics. Portland container traffic had been conveyed between Maroona and Portland on grain services twice a week, but Pacific National said that the drought meant there were no trains to attach the loading to. On the route the price differential between rail and road was $12.97 per tonne in rail's favour. [3] Pacific National closed their Portland operations in March 2008, with GrainCorp leasing a limited number of locomotives and rolling stock from them, but favour transporting grain to the Port of Geelong instead. [4]

In July 2008, the Victorian Government announced a $15 million upgrade to the line, raising maximum speeds to 80 kilometres an hour as they were previously. The Australian Rail Track Corporation signed a 50-year lease to manage the line and was to start the upgrade within months. [5] The line was finally transferred from V/Line to the ARTC on 22 March 2009. [6]

In September 2008, it was announced that freight traffic would restart, with operator El Zorro signing a multi-million deal with miner Iluka Resources to carry containerised mineral sands from Portland in the south-west to Melbourne, with Iluka saying rail transport was cheaper than road. [7] The train ran on an irregular basis. [8] In March 2010, the State Government announced a $3.97 million grant for the construction of a rail loading facility alongside the Iluka Resources mineral sand separation plant near the Hamilton railway station for the rail transport of heavy mineral concentrate extracted from the Iluka mine site at Ouyen via the standard gauge Murtoa - Hopetoun railway. [9]

Grain trains on the line restarted with the 2010 harvest, with AWB Limited and its rail partner El Zorro using the GrainCorp terminal to load 26,250 tonnes of canola bound for Pakistan on 4 March 2010. [10]

Branch lines

Mt Gambier-Heywood rail ticket 1979 Mt Gambier-Heywood rail ticket 1979.jpg
Mt Gambier-Heywood rail ticket 1979

A short lived branch line was opened from Dunkeld to Penshurst in 1890 but closed only eight years later. [2]

A branch line was opened from Hamilton north to Cavendish between 1910 and 1920. This was connected to the Horsham - Balmoral railway in the 1920s, which itself connected back to the main Serviceton line. This line was closed south of Noradjuha, (just south of East Natimuk) in 1979.

A branch line from Hamilton north-west to Coleraine was opened in 1882, being closed in 1977. [2]

A branch line was opened between Hamilton and Koroit in the 1890, where it connected to the South West line via Warrnambool, but was closed in 1977. [2]

A branch line was opened from Branxholme north-west to Casterton in 1884. This line was closed in 1977. [2]

A branch line was opened from Heywood west to Mount Gambier in 1917. [2] Service was suspended in 1995 due to the standardisation of the Maroona - Portland line. There are regular calls for the Heywood - Mount Gambier line to be standardised. [11] [12] [13]

Services

The gauge conversion of the Mildura line to standard gauge in 2017/2018 has resulted in the resumption of seasonal grain trains from the Wimmera and Mallee regionals to Portland. Prior to that, the only regular service on the line was the thrice weekly El Zorro containerised mineral sands train from Portland. [7] The last passenger train between Ararat and Portland was on 12 September 1981, operated by a DRC railcar. [14] A new passenger station at Portland had been officially opened on 29 June 1968. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland, Victoria</span> City in Victoria, Australia

Portland is a city in Victoria, Australia, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It is also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay. As of the 2021 census the population was 10,016, increasing from a population of 9,712 taken at the 2016 census.

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The Serviceton railway line is part of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor. It serves the west of Victoria, linking the state capital of Melbourne to the cities of Ballarat and Ararat. It once extended to the disputed South Australian border as part of the Melbourne–Adelaide railway. The former broad-gauge track was replaced in 1995 by the 1435 mm Western standard gauge line.

The Tocumwal railway line is a 1,600 mm gauge railway line in Victoria, Australia. The line runs between the border town of Tocumwal in New South Wales to Southern Cross, Melbourne. The line is utilised by various passenger and freight trains serving the northern suburbs of Melbourne and northern regions of Victoria.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iluka Resources</span>

Iluka Resources is an Australian-based resources company, specialising in mineral sands exploration, project development, operations and marketing. Iluka is the largest producer of zircon and titanium dioxide–derived rutile and synthetic rutile globally. Iluka mines heavy mineral sands and separates the concentrate into its individual mineral constituents rutile, ilmenite, and zircon. Some of the ilmenite is then processed into synthetic rutile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Zorro (railway)</span>

El Zorro was an Australian railway operator hauling freight and infrastructure trains in Victoria and New South Wales.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robinvale railway line</span> Railway line in Victoria, Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avoca railway line</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tocumwal railway station</span> Historic site in New South Wales, Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamilton railway station, Victoria</span> Former railway station in Victoria, Australia

Hamilton is a railway station located on the Ararat - Portland railway in the city of Hamilton, Victoria, Australia. Today the station is now used only for through trains, and the large station building is used only to serve bus passengers, although the disused platform remains in reasonable condition.

Heywood railway station is a disused station on the Portland railway line in the town of Heywood, in the state of Victoria, Australia. The last passenger train between Ararat and Portland was on 12 September 1981, operated by a DRC railcar. The platform and station building are still in place at Heywood, although in a disused condition. Some of the former yard remains as unconnected broad gauge track, with power connections also provided to a work camp area. The former goods shed was removed by October 1983, and the through line was converted to standard gauge in 1995.

The Mount Gambier railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. Opened in stages from 1881, it was built to narrow gauge and joined Mount Gambier railway station, which was at that time the eastern terminus of a line to Beachport. It connected at Naracoorte to another isolated narrow gauge line joining Naracoorte to Kingston SE, and to the broad gauge Adelaide-Wolseley line at Wolseley, at around the same time that was extended to Serviceton to become the South Australian part of the interstate Melbourne–Adelaide railway. Since its closure in 1995 following the standardisation of the interstate main line, there have been varying calls for standardisation of the railway between Wolseley and Heywood.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Gambier–Heywood railway line</span> Former railway in Victoria and South Australia

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "VICSIG - Infrastructure - Line Data Portland line". vicsig.net. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sid Brown (March 1990). "Tracks Across the State". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 71–76.
  3. Bill Meldrum (17 December 2004). "Freight off the rails Pacific National suspends rail services to Portland". Portland Observer. Archived from the original on 24 January 2005. Retrieved 2 July 2008. (via Internet Archive)
  4. Bill Meldrum (30 June 2008). "State loses focus on Portland line". Portland Observer. spec.com.au. Retrieved 2 July 2008.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. "Rail track upgrade announced for Portland". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  6. V/Line Weekly Operational Notice No. 11/2009
  7. 1 2 "Rail freight back on Portland-Maroona line". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
  8. "Wongm's Rail Gallery - Mineral sands train". wongm.railgeelong.com. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  9. Premier of Victoria (18 March 2010). "Media Release: GOVERNMENT HELPS PUT MINERAL INDUSTRY ON TRACK". premier.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  10. Rob McKay (4 March 2010). "Shipment breaks Portland grain export drought". Lloyd's List DCN. lloydslistdcn.com.au. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  11. "New push for Mount Gambier railway". The Border Watch. borderwatch.com.au. 17 July 2008. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  12. "Penola rail pledge confirmed". The Border Watch. borderwatch.com.au. 18 July 2008. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  13. BILL MELDRUM (13 February 2008). "Portland railyards given the shunt". Portland Observer. spec.com.au. Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  14. Chris Banger (March 1997). "Rail Passenger Service Withdrawals Since 1960". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 77–82.
  15. Vincent Adams Winter (1990). VR and VicRail: 1962–1983. p. 205. ISBN   0-9592069-3-0.