Formation A
Department of Railways was created in 1856 with the first appointment of staff. British engineer,
George Christian Darbyshire was made first Engineer-in-Chief in 1857, and steered all railway construction work until his replacement by
Thomas Higinbotham in 1860. In late 1876, New York consulting engineer
Walton Evans arranged the supply of two 4-4-0 locomotives manufactured by the
Rogers Locomotive Works of
New Jersey, US to the Victorian Railways. Because of political turmoil in the
Victorian Government, Higginbotham was one of 137 officials removed from office on
Black Wednesday on 8 January 1878 when the Government was denied supply. He, like a number of other senior officers, was not reappointed.
Robert Watson then took over as Engineer-in-Chief. But in 1880, a new Ministry expressed a wish to redress the injustice by re-instating Higginbotham. However, at the sudden death of Higginbotham in 1880,
William Elsdon took over for two years before his retirement in 1882, and Watson then returned to his former position as Engineer-in-Chief, which he held up to the time of his death. On 1 November 1883, assent was given to the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act 1883, 47 Vic., No.767, to construct, maintain and manage the state's railways. The staff of the Department of Railways came under the authority of the Railway Commissioners, which became commonly known as Victorian Railways. The elaborate headquarters at
67 Spencer Street were opened in 1893.
Growth headed by S301 Sir Thomas Mitchell'' near
Kilmore East in 1938 Victorian Railways grew to service all parts of the state, even extending some lines into
New South Wales under the
1922 Border Railways Act. In the late 19th century, the railways became something of a
political football with politicians demanding new lines to be built in places where traffic levels never justified it. In 1864, there was just 254 miles (409 km) of railway. The system expanded rapidly to reach 2,900 route miles (4,670 km) by 1891 and to its greatest extent of 4,755 route miles (7652 km) in 1939. The result was that by the beginning of the 20th century, no Victorian (apart from those in the mountain regions) was more than 25 miles (42 km) from a railway line. The period from the end of the 1930s saw a slow decline in route mileage as unprofitable branches were closed. Conversion of the
Melbourne suburban system to
electric operation commenced in 1919 and was completed by 1930, creating what was claimed at the time to be the world's largest electric suburban rail system. 1937 saw the introduction of the streamlined
Spirit of Progress passenger train, with air conditioning and all steel carriage construction.
Diesel power was introduced in 1951 with ten
F-class diesel-electric shunting locomotives, followed by
B-class mainline diesel-electric locomotives in 1952/53. A standard gauge line connecting to the
New South Wales system was constructed in 1961 allowing through trains to operate between Melbourne and
Sydney, Australia's two largest cities, for the first time. The last steam locomotive was withdrawn in 1972.
Demise In May 1973, the Railways (Amendment) Act 1972 passed the management of the Railways from the Victorian Railways Commissioners to a Victorian Railways Board. In 1974, the Victorian Railways was rebranded as VicRail, but the royal blue and gold livery used on rolling stock was retained until 1981. In 1983, VicRail was divided into two—the
State Transport Authority taking responsibility for the provision of
country rail and road, passenger and freight services, and the
Metropolitan Transit Authority taking over
suburban passenger operations. The State Transport Authority traded under the
V/Line name, while the Metropolitan Transit Authority used that name until the
Public Transport Corporation ("The Met") was formed in 1989. Between 1996 and 1999, V/Line and The Met were privatised. V/Line Passenger was franchised to
National Express, returning to government ownership in 2002. The V/Line Freight division was sold to
Freight Victoria and is now owned by
Pacific National. The infrastructure is now managed by
VicTrack with the interstate rail freight infrastructure leased to the
Australian Rail Track Corporation.
Metro Trains Melbourne now operates the suburban railway network. ==Management==