Victoria has only ever had about 10 tunnels on its railway network, with some others on private narrow gauge tramways. This is due to the relatively easy terrain through which most of the lines were built.
The Deniliquin line was commenced by the private Melbourne, Mount Alexander & Murray River Railway Company, but when the company experienced financial difficulties it was taken over by the Victorian colonial government in 1856, with the Victorian Railways Department being formed to operate the new public railway system. The line opened in five stages from February 1859 to September 1864, and was at the time the largest engineering undertaking in the colony. More than 6,000 men were involved in construction of the Deniliquin line with the main contractors Cornish & Bruce undertaking the works. [1] The line served a strategic economic need of serving the important goldfields of Castlemaine and Bendigo (then called Sandhurst), and capturing for Melbourne the trade in wool and other goods from northern Victoria and the Riverina which were formerly shipped through South Australia via the Murray River. Two tunnels were built on the line. The Elphinstone Tunnel, 385 metres (1,263 ft) long, was built in brick and bluestone as a double-track horseshoe profile tunnel, and was completed in 1860. [1] The 390-metre-long (1,280 ft) Big Hill Tunnel, located between Kangaroo Flat and Ravenswood, south of Bendigo. Like the Elpinstone Tunnel, it was double-tracked when built, but was singled as part of the Regional Fast Rail project.
Cheviot tunnel was built for the extension of the Mansfield line from Yea and is located near Limestone, roughly halfway between Yea and Molesworth, where the line crosses the Black Range at McLoughlin's Gap. It was built in 1889, at a cost of £88,661/2/11, by contractors Kenny Bros as part of the Yea to Cathkin section, but construction was delayed by accidents. [2]
Tarrawarra Tunnel was built on the Healesville line, when the Lilydale-Melbourne railway was extended from Yarra Flats (now known as Yarra Glen) to Healesville. A 1 in 40 (2.5%) climb up to the 154.4-metre tunnel and a corresponding descent was required. The section of line through the tunnel opened on 1 March 1889. [3]
South Geelong tunnel was built as part of the extension of the Geelong line towards Colac and runs for a distance of 422 metres underneath the edge of the town centre, between McKillop and Ryrie Streets. Construction was commenced on 15 October 1874 by contractors Overend and Robb. It has a typical horseshoe shape and is built of bluestone and brick. [4] The first train ran through the tunnel on 13 January 1876 and official services commenced on 4 February the same year. [5] Its steep grade limited haulage loads and sometimes required assistance from a bank engine. [6]
The Geelong Harbour branch line ran from near the station to Cunningham Pier (originally Railway Pier), being constructed by 1859 to assist in the transfer of goods from the port. A tunnel was constructed just south of the station, running under the main Melbourne Road (Mercer Street) and with a steep-sided bluestone embanked cutting. The line was closed in the 1980s. [7]
The similar Portland harbour tunnel was constructed in 1877 in Portland to link the main harbour with the railway, running under Bentink Street and emerging at the base of the shoreline cliffs. This line was later closed and a loop line constructed around the town to the new breakwater harbour. [8]
The Hurstbridge Line tunnels are three tunnels on the suburban Hurstbridge line. Two were built in 1901-2 when the direct line from East Melbourne to Victoria Park was constructed. They are located at Jolimont and West Richmond; the first under Wellington Parade, and the second under Hoddle Street, with a short section of open cutting between them. The third tunnel, which opened in 1902, was part of the extension of the line from Heidelberg to Eltham (and later to Hurstbridge). [9] In 2018, the line between Heidelberg and Rosanna was duplicated, with a second tunnel bored adjacent to the original tunnel.
The Bunbury Street tunnel in Footscray, on the Independent Goods Line runs under Bunbury Street (where it was constructed by cut and fill, but included a section of concrete arch and another with a concrete beam roof), passing under the Williamstown platforms of Footscray station. [10] The line was built in 1924 to alleviate congestion caused by country goods trains on the suburban network.
The City Loop was constructed as four separate tunnels. One tunnel between North Melbourne and Flinders Street, another tunnel between Jolimont and Southern Cross, and two tunnels between Richmond and Southern Cross.
The tunnels roughly follow the alignment of Spring Street and La Trobe Street with underground stations at Parliament, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff. The tunnels and stations were constructed between 1971 and 1985. [11]
The Bump tunnel was built on a narrow-gauge tramline near Powelltown, to gain access to timber for the sawmills of the district. The Powelltown Tramway ran from Yarra Junction to Powelltown between 1913 and 1945, and formed the collector for numerous timber tramways. [12] One was the Bump Line, which was built in about 1913 with a steep section across the range at the head of the Little Yarra River, using a steam winch-hauled incline. This was replaced in July 1925 to with a 313 metre long tunnel which was about 2.8 m wide and 4.0 m high and took 13 months to dig. It was timber-lined and had a vent shaft in the middle through which smoke escaped. The tunnel was closed as a safety measure after World War II. Both entrances are still visible. [13] [14]
The narrow-gauge Fyansford Cement Works Railway, which connected the Australian Portland Cement Co's cement works in Fyansford with its limestone quarry, had a 1300 metre long tunnel, the longest rail tunnel in Victoria (excepting the underground sections of the City Loop). [15] [16]
Two tunnels were built on a timber tramway linking Henry's Sawmill [17] with the Victorian Railways terminus at Forrest in 1902 and were in use by 1903. They remained in use until about 1927. Steam locomotives hauling logs from the Otway Forest to sawmills, had fold-down funnels to pass through the tunnels. [18]
Notes:
Southern Cross railway station is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne Central Business District. The Docklands Stadium sports arena is 500 metres north-west of the station.
Yarra Junction is a town in Victoria, Australia, 55 km (34 mi) east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Yarra Junction recorded a population of 2,875 at the 2021 census.
Parliament railway station is an underground railway station in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of three underground stations on the City Loop, which serves the Melbourne CBD. In 2017/2018 it was the fourth-busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with 10.19 million passenger movements.
Sunshine railway station is located on the Sunbury line in Victoria, Australia. Originally named Braybrook Junction for the convergence of the major railways from central Melbourne to Ballarat and Bendigo, it was renamed when the suburb of Sunshine, which it serves, took its name from the nearby Sunshine Harvester Works. With the expansion of the railway network in Melbourne's west, Sunshine grew in importance, with cross-suburban goods routes constructed to Newport and from the adjacent Albion to Jacana line. From the mid-20th century, it became an interchange for the main interstate routes to South Australia and New South Wales, when the through line from Melbourne to Sydney was completed, although the main line to Adelaide was later diverted. In the early 21st century, the station was demolished and reconstructed to serve the diversion of the main passenger route to Geelong and beyond. It has been identified as a possible route for a future line to Melbourne Airport and as an interchange for the orbital Suburban Rail Loop.
Footscray railway station is the junction for the Sunbury, Werribee and Williamstown lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the western Melbourne suburb of Footscray, and it opened on 17 January 1859.
Proposals for expansion of the Melbourne rail network are commonly presented by political parties, government agencies, industry organisations and public transport advocacy groups. The extensions proposed take a variety of forms: electrification of existing routes to incorporate them into the suburban rail system; reconstruction of former passenger rail lines along pre-existing easements; entirely new routes intended to serve new areas with heavy rail or provide alternative routes in congested areas; or track amplification along existing routes to provide segregation of services. Other proposals are for the construction of new or relocated stations on existing lines, to provide improved access to public transport services.
St Kilda station is a current tram stop and former railway station, located in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Australia, and was the terminus of the St Kilda railway line in the Melbourne suburban rail system. It is one of the oldest surviving railway station buildings in Victoria. The building is currently used as retail premises, while the platform serves as stop 132 on tram route 96.
The Barwon River is a perennial river of the Corangamite catchment, located in The Otways and the Bellarine Peninsula regions of the Australian state of Victoria.
The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which served a ridership of 99.5 million over the year 2021-2022. It is the core of the larger Victorian railway network, with links to both intrastate and interstate systems.
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.
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 in cases where geography dictated a choice of an alternate port.
Fyansford is a township on the western edge of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, named after Captain Foster Fyans who came to Geelong as a Police magistrate in October, 1837. It is located at the junction of the Barwon and Moorabool rivers. At the 2016 census, Fyansford had a population of 196.
The Moorabool River is a river in Victoria, Australia, that runs past several small towns and areas such as Meredith, Anakie, and Staughton Vale. The river joins with the Barwon River at Fyansford.
The Deniliquin railway line is a broad-gauge railway line serving northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from the border settlement of Deniliquin into Bendigo, before turning south-southeast towards Melbourne, terminating in Docklands near the central business district. It is a major trunk line both for passenger and freight trains, with many railway lines branching off from it.
Rail transport in Australia involves a number of narrow-gauge railways. In some states they formed the core statewide network, but in the others they were either a few government branch lines, or privately owned and operated branch lines, often for mining, logging or industrial use.
Powelltown is a town in Victoria, Australia, 70 km east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Powelltown recorded a population of 214 at the 2021 census.
The Powelltown tramway was a 3 ft narrow gauge tramway that operated between Powelltown and Yarra Junction, Victoria, Australia, between 1913 and 1945.
The earliest trams in Australia operated in the latter decades of the 19th century, hauled by horses or "steam tram motors". At the turn of the 20th century, propulsion almost universally turned to electrification, although cable trams lingered in Melbourne. In cities and towns that had trams, they were a major part of public transport assets.
The Geelong–Ballarat railway line is a broad-gauge railway in western Victoria, Australia between the cities of Geelong and Ballarat. Towns on the route include Bannockburn, Lethbridge, Meredith, Elaine and Lal Lal. Major traffic includes general freight from the Mildura line, and grain.
The Fyansford Cement Works Railway was an industrial railway near Geelong, Australia, built by the Australian Portland Cement Company to carry limestone from its quarry to its cement works at Fyansford.