Services Services on the Hurstbridge line operates from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 daily. In general, during peak hours, train frequency is 10–20 minutes in the AM peak on the Hurstbridge line while during non-peak hours the frequency is reduced to 20–30 minutes throughout the entire route. Train services on the Hurstbridge line are also subjected to maintenance and renewal works, usually on selected Fridays and Saturdays. Shuttle bus services are provided throughout the duration of works for affected commuters.
Stopping patterns Legend — Station status • ◼
Premium Station – Station staffed from first to last train • ◻
Host Station – Usually staffed during morning peak, however this can vary for different stations on the network.
Legend — Stopping patterns Some services do not operate via the City Loop • ● – All trains stop • ◐ – Some services do not stop • ▲ – Only inbound trains stop • ▼ – Only outbound trains stop (trains operate clockwise through the city loop all day) • | – Trains pass and do not stop
Operators The Hurstbridge line has had a total of 6 operators since its opening in 1888. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from its first service in 1888 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line. These operators,
Victorian Railways, the
Metropolitan Transit Authority, the
Public Transport Corporation, and Hillside Trains have a combined operational length of 111 years. Hillside Trains was privatised in August 1999 and later rebranded
Connex Melbourne.
Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. Both private operators have had a combined operational period of years.
Route . |left • Flinders Street to Princes Bridge on • Collingwood to Heidelberg on • Princes Bridge to Collingwood on • Heidelberg to Eltham on • To Hurstbridge on }} • Princes Bridge to Heidelberg on • To Eltham on • To Hurstbridge on }} •
Victorian Railways (VR) (1888–1974) • VR as VicRail (1974–1983) •
MTA (The Met) (1983–1989) •
PTC (The Met) (1989–1997) •
VicTrack (1997–Current) }} • Flinders Street to Montmorency • Diamond Creek to Wattle Glen
Single track: • Montmorency to Diamond Creek • Wattle Glen to Hurstbridge }} The Hurstbridge line forms a highly curved route from
Flinders Street railway station in
Melbourne CBD to its terminus at
Hurstbridge. The route is long and is double track up to
Montmorency, with an additional section of double track between
Wattle Glen and
Diamond Creek; the remainder of the line is single track. The Hurstbridge line traverses both flat and hilly country with large amounts of curves and fairly significant
earthworks for large parts of the line. The line uses the Clifton Hill tunnel of the
City Loop, and travels through the only other three
railway tunnels on the Victorian electrified network, although none of them are particularly long or deep. Sections of the line have been elevated onto a rail bridge or lowered into a
cutting to
eliminate level crossings. The line features four of the largest bridges on the suburban network: twin bridges over the
Merri Creek running between Clifton Hill and
Westgarth station, another on the
up side of
Darebin station, crossing the
Darebin Creek, and the heritage-listed wooden
trestle bridge running across the Diamond Creek in Eltham. At in length, this bridge is one of the longest curved wooden
trestle bridge in use on a revenue railway in the southern hemisphere, and is the only wooden bridge still in use on a revenue railway in Melbourne. The line follows the same alignment as the Mernda line up to
Clifton Hill. After departing Clifton Hill, the
Mernda line heads north with the Hurstbridge line taking a windy alignment heading in an eastern direction. Almost all of the line goes through
built-up suburbs, however, the line becomes more
peri-urban towards its terminus in Hurstbridge. == Infrastructure ==