19th century was opened in February 1859 as part of the rail line to
Bendigo. The
Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company started to build a rail line to Bendigo before operations were taken over by the
Department of Railways then the
Victorian Railways. The line had been extended as far as
Sunbury by February 1859. The line was duplicated between
Footscray and Sunbury in early July 1859. Electrification shaved 10 minutes off the trip from St Albans to the city. Automatic block signalling was provided between South Kensington and Footscray (and
Yarraville on the Williamstown line) in August 1927, from Footscray to West Footscray in October 1927, North Melbourne to South Kensington in June 1928, Sunshine to Albion in July 1929, West Footscray to Sunshine in October 1929, and Albion to St Albans in February 1930, thus resulting in the entire electrified line being provided with this signalling. The Sydenham electrification resulted in the closure of the original
Sydenham station; a
new station was built 600 metres south and named after the nearby
Watergardens Town Centre. Additionally, another station was constructed in
St Albans called
Keilor Plains.
Sunbury extension was rebuilt as part of the extension. Proposals for an extension of electrified metropolitan services to Sunbury had dated as far back as the
1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan. $270 million was set aside to complete electrification works as part of the 2008
Victorian Transport Plan, with works completed in 2012. There was some opposition to electrification. Concerns included a less comfortable journey, the removal of toilet facilities, the presence of a conductor, potential overcrowding, and congestion at level crossings due to the increase in the number of services.
Bendigo line users also raised concern that electrification to Sunbury would slow down their trains to Melbourne. Ian Dobbs, then head of
Public Transport Victoria acknowledged this issue, stating that "there's a slight slow-down of services on that particular corridor with this timetable, because we're putting more Metro services in the mix." On 18 November 2012, the newly electrified line was renamed from the Sydenham line to the Sunbury line. Completion of the electrification increased the service frequency of Sunbury and Diggers Rest stations to 489 trains per week, an increase of 64% from the 298 trains per week when the service was operated by
V/Line.
Sunbury Line Upgrade In 2019, works began on the $2.1 billion Sunbury Line Upgrade project, delivered by the
Rail Projects Victoria. Works delivered as part of the project include the installation of five new
electrical substations: one in
Delahey (near Watergardens station), one in
Calder Park, rail yard two in
St Albans, and one in
Albion; ten more across the line were upgraded along with improvements to overhead wiring and signalling equipment to enable the use of "high capacity signalling" (a form of
communications-based train control) in the Metro Tunnel. Platforms were extended at Sunbury, Watergardens, Albion, Sunshine, Tottenham, West Footscray, Middle Footscray, and Footscray stations to support the longer HCMT rolling stock. Raised boarding pads were installed at
Sunbury,
Diggers Rest,
Watergardens,
Keilor Plains,
Albion,
Sunshine, and
Footscray stations to improve wheelchair accessibility. Train stabling facilities at Sunbury, Calder Park, and Watergardens were upgraded, the level crossing at Gap Road, Sunbury was removed, and the tracks connecting the Sunbury line to the Metro Tunnel's portal at
South Kensington station were laid.
Metro Tunnel . The
2012 Network Development Plan identified the need for a north–south tunnel connecting the Sunbury line to the
Cranbourne and
Pakenham lines. In 2017, the
Metro Tunnel project began construction, consisting of twin tunnels bored underground between
South Kensington and
South Yarra stations, with five new stations along the route:
Arden,
Parkville,
State Library (connecting to
Melbourne Central),
Town Hall (connecting to
Flinders Street), and
Anzac. These works was completed in 2025, and went fully operational following the timetable change on 1 February 2026.
Level crossing removals was rebuilt during the removal of the Furlong Road level crossing. The
Level Crossing Removal Project has announced the removal of all 7 remaining level crossings on the Sunbury line, completed in stages from 2016 to 2025. In 2016, the level crossings at Furlong Road and Main Road,
St Albans, were removed by lowering the rail line into a trench under the roads;
St Albans and
Ginifer stations were rebuilt. Another crossing was removed by elevating a section of the
Melton Highway in
Sydenham onto a bridge above the rail line in 2018. All remaining level crossings on the line were removed in 2025. The crossings at Old Calder Highway, Watsons Road, and Calder Park Drive were removed by building road bridges over the rail line, and the Holden Road crossing was closed to car traffic.
Infill Stations Currently, There is only one station proposed to be built on the Sunbury Line being at
Calder Park. The station is planned to be located adjacent to Calder Park Drive. == Network and operations ==