19th century The line to Geelong was originally built by the
Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company and opened on 25 June 1857, with the line being sold to the
Victorian Railways in 1860. The line was designed by English engineer
Edward Snell, and built as a single track. The line was later extended south-west, to
Winchelsea in 1876,
Colac in 1877,
Camperdown in 1883,
Terang in 1877, and finally
Warrnambool, Dennington, and Port Fairy in 1890. The line is now closed beyond Warrnambool, with the last train leaving Port Fairy in September 1977.
20th century In the early 20th century, a similar service named "
The Flyer" was introduced as an extension of the
Geelong Flier to Port Fairy. The service shaved 90 minutes off the whole journey, compared with the schedule of its predecessors. This service was operated by the longer-distance
E-class carriages and lasted until about 1967. Whilst the track beyond
Waurn Ponds station is mostly single with some passing loops, many duplication projects have occurred along the Geelong section of the line. The section from North Geelong to Geelong was duplicated late April 1922. 37 years later in 1959, the section of track from Corio to North Geelong was duplicated. In 1979 the track from Werribee to Little River was duplicated and the sections from Little River to Lara and Lara to Corio in 1981. The Regional Rail Revival project will duplicate the track from South Geelong to Waurn Ponds in late 2024. In September 1977, the line beyond Warrnambool was closed, with the final service to Port Fairy being hauled by a Victorian Railways
B75 locomotive on 12 September. The initial franchise was for eight years with operations commencing on 19 September 1993. The service continued using the name
"The Westcoaster" until services were returned to V/Line operation and the name fell into disuse.
21st century In August 2001,
Connex purchased a 50% shareholding of West Coast Railway. In 2003, Connex sold its shareholding to Australian Public Trustees. West Coast Railway continued to operate the line until 2004 when the contract was handed back the government with V/Line resuming operation of the line.Since transfer to V/Line, five new stations have opened on the line:
Marshall station in 2004,
Sherwood Park station, near Warrnambool, in 2006,
Waurn Ponds station in 2014, and
Tarneit and
Wyndham Vale in 2015. From 29 January 2017, V/Line started running a fourth service return service on weekdays with Sunday road coach services being replaced by trains. This meant that three Sunday train services ran in both directions instead of two. Following the timetable change in late August 2017, weekday Warrnambool trains no longer serve Wyndham Vale or Tarneit stations. In December 2018, due to a lack of available rolling stock,
H carriages were used on the line past Geelong for the first time. H carriages are no longer used on the Warrnambool service. From 31 March 2023, the cost of V/Line rail tickets were capped to the same fare as metropolitan services, with daily fares being capped at $9.20 or $4.60 for concession. These changes are expected to bring a large rise in patronage, with fears of overcrowding on V/Line services.
Regional Rail Link delivered two new stations, including
Wyndham Vale (pictured here). Due to an increase in congestion on the
Werribee line where
Metro and V/Line services have to share tracks, a proposal was created to construct a separate line for regional trains called the "Tarneit Link". The project was expanded and re-branded as the
Regional Rail Link when announced as part of the
Brumby Government's Victorian Transport Plan in December 2008. The project was revised to separating all regional trains between
Southern Cross and
Geelong,
Ballarat, and
Bendigo, from suburban rail movements, with the proposed route beginning at Southern Cross, travelling through
Sunshine and
Tarneit to
West Werribee. In December 2013, the first section of the upgrade works were completed and the Warrnambool service could no longer stop at
North Melbourne station. On 21 June 2015, the
Deer Park–West Werribee railway line opened. Consequently, Warrnambool trains began to run via
Wyndham Vale and
Tarneit stations, rather than via
Werribee and
Newport stations on the
Werribee Line.
Level crossing removals The
Level Crossing Removal Project removed 3 level crossings in the area surrounding
Deer Park in 2022 and 2023. The crossing at Robinsons Road was removed by constructing a road tunnel underneath the rail line, with the project being completed in September 2022. Another crossing was removed at Mt Derrimut Road via the construction of an elevated rail bridge. This removal also included a newly elevated
Deer Park station, car-parking, and public open space. The final crossing that was removed was the one at Fitzgerald Road in neighbouring suburb of
Ardeer. This crossing was removed in April 2022 via the construction of a road bridge over the line. Despite a large number of remaining crossings on the line, there are no more scheduled to be removed by the Level Crossing Removal Project.
Regional Rail Revival In 2017, the
Regional Rail Revival program was announced which included an upgrade to the Warrnambool service. The first stage was aimed at allowing a fifth return service to be introduced and involved: • Signalling upgrades including the construction of trenches, cabling, and additional infrastructure • A new 2.2 km crossing loop at
Boorcan • 12 level crossing upgrades between Waurn Ponds and Warrnambool with boom gates, flashing lights, bells, and more advanced train detection technology Stage 1 of the upgrade was completed in December 2022 with a fifth weekday return service introduced between Melbourne and Warrnambool. In September 2021, a second stage of upgrades aimed at allowing
VLocity trains to operate on the line was announced with a completion date of late 2024. This second stage included: • Upgrades to train detection technology at more than 50 public level crossings • Installation of boom gates, bells, and flashing lights at 17 of those crossings • The upgrade of stabling facilities at Warrnambool Station • Track upgrades to replace old wooden sleepers Following the project's completion, there are now no unprotected public level crossings on the line, with all protected by boom gates and flashing lights. Additionally, following this project's completion,
VLocity trains began operation, and after March 2025, VLocity trains ran all services. == Future ==