19th century A rail connection from
Princes Bridge station to
Punt Road (Richmond) was built by the
Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company in 1859, with a branch line from Richmond to Burnley opening in 1861. In 1890, part of what would become the Glen Waverley line opened from Burnley to Darling. At the same time in 1890, a line known as the
Outer Circle line opened, running from
Oakleigh station to Darling, continuing to Burnley with the line continuing north to
Riversdale and beyond. The Outer Circle closed in sections between 1893 and 1897, with the Burnley to Waverley Road section of the line closing back to Darling in 1895. The electrification of the line allowed for the introduction of
Swing Door electric multiple unit trains for the first time. The introduction of power signalling on the line begun in 1919 with the section from Richmond to East Richmond, with the remainder of the line converted in stages from 1922 to 1964. In 1929, the Glen Waverley line began construction on an extension from
Darling to
East Malvern along the original track of the Outer Circle line. The Outer Circle line previously begun its curve south towards Waverley Road and Oakleigh. The Glen Waverley line continued east towards Holmesglen. On 6 February 1956, the
Toorak Road level crossing between Kooyong and
Tooronga stations was the first in Victoria to receive
boom barriers, replacing hand operated gates. New
Comeng trains were introduced to the Melbourne railway system in 1981. Initially, along with the Glen Waverley line, they were only allowed to operate on the Alamein, Belgrave, Dandenong and Lilydale lines, due to the width of the trains (). Also in 1981, Glen Waverley line services commenced operations through the
City Loop, after previously terminating at
Flinders or
Spencer Street stations. The commencement of operations involved the service stopping at three new stations—
Parliament,
Melbourne Central (then called Museum), and
Flagstaff. The Loop follows
La Trobe and
Spring Streets along the northern and eastern edges of the
Hoddle Grid. The Loop connects with Melbourne's two busiest stations,
Flinders Street and
Southern Cross, via the elevated
Flinders Street Viaduct. These works coincided with the construction of the
Monash Freeway which runs alongside the route for part of the journey. This was the first crossing to be removed by the project and was completed in 2016. With the removal of 2 level crossings along the corridor, only 4 crossings now remain on the Glen Waverley line. In 2021, the metropolitan timetable underwent a major rewrite, resulting in all Glen Waverley line trains operating via the City Loop alongside
Alamein,
Belgrave, and
Lilydale services. In 2023, data from
Public Transport Victoria found that the Glen Waverley line was the most on-time train service on the network. Commuters on the
Craigieburn line faced the highest train delays, with 10.6% of services arriving late between March 2022 and February 2023. The
Pakenham line experienced the most cancellations in the city's south-east, at 3.1%, excluding lines with fewer services. On the positive side, the Glen Waverley line was the top performer, boasting 97.1% on-time arrivals during the same period. == Network and operations ==