Sandringham line

The Sandringham line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.^[1] Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fourth shortest metropolitan railway line at 17.9 kilometres (11.1 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Sandringham station in the south-east, serving 14 stations via South Yarra, Balaclava, Elsternwick, and Brighton.^[2] The line operates from approximately 5am to 12am, daily, with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. Services run every 7–8 minutes during peak hour, with services running every 15 minutes during the inter-peak period on weekdays, and every 20 minutes at night and during the day on weekends (with the exception of early Sunday mornings when services run every 40 minutes). Additionally, services run every 60 minutes overnight on Friday and Saturday nights as part of the Night Network.^[3] Trains on the Sandringham line run with a two three-car formations of Comeng or Siemens Nexas trainsets.^[4]

Sandringham line
Comeng train on the Sandringham line at Prahran station, December 2019
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
System	Melbourne railway network
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Predecessor	Windsor – North Brighton (1859–1860) Princes Bridge – Cremorne (1859–1860) Princes Bridge – North Brighton (1860–1861) Brighton Beach (1861–1887)
First service	19 December 1859; 165 years ago (1859-12-19)
Current operator(s)	Metro Trains
Former operator(s)	St Kilda and Brighton Railway (1859–1862) Melbourne and Suburban Railway (1859–1862) Melbourne Railway Company (1862–1865) Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway (1865–1878) Victorian Railways (VR) (1878–1974) VR as VicRail (1974–1983) MTA (The Met) (1983–1989) PTC (The Met) (1989–1998) Bayside Trains (1998–2000) M>Train (2000–2004) Connex Melbourne (2004–2009)
Route
Termini	Flinders Street Sandringham
Stops	14
Distance travelled	18.090 km (11.241 mi)
Average journey time	30 minutes
Service frequency	7-8 minutes weekdays peak 15 minutes weekdays off-peak 20 minutes at nights and during the day on weekends 40 minutes early Sunday morning 60 minutes overnight on Friday and Saturday nights
Line(s) used	Sandringham
Technical
Rolling stock	Comeng, Siemens
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner(s)	VicTrack
Route map Legend h:mm km zone 0:00 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●●●●●●●● 1 0:04 2.6 Richmond ●●●●●●■ 0:07 4.2 South Yarra ●●●■ 0:09 5.5 Prahran ■■■ 0:11 6.3 Windsor ■■■ 0:13 7.9 Balaclava ■■ 0:15 8.6 Ripponlea ■ 0:17 9.7 Elsternwick ■ 0:19 11.1 Gardenvale 1 0:20 12.0 North Brighton 1/2 0:23 13.3 Middle Brighton 0:25 14.7 Brighton Beach 1/2 0:28 16.5 Hampton 2 0:30 17.9 Sandringham 2 h:mm km zone This diagram: view talk edit

Sections of the Sandringham line opened as early as 1859, with the line fully extended to Sandringham in 1887. A limited number of stations were first opened, with infill stations progressively opened between 1860 and 1912.^[5] The line was built to connect Melbourne with the suburbs of Balaclava, Elsternwick, Brighton, and Sandringham, amongst others. Minor upgrades have occurred since its opening, including historical level crossing removal works and regular infrastructure upgrades.^[6]

History

19th century

The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company opened their line from Princes Bridge (later amalgamated with Flinders Street station) to a temporary station on Punt Road in February 1859, then to Cremorne (now closed) in December of that year. Shortly after, the St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company opened their railway line from St Kilda to Bay Street (now North Brighton) in December 1859. Twelve months after that, the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company extended their line from Cremorne to Chapel Street (now Windsor) station, on the St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company's line, providing a second route to the city from the Brighton line. The following year, again in December, the St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company extended their line to Beach (now Brighton Beach).

The link between St Kilda and Windsor, disused since 1862, was dismantled in 1867, although part of it at the Windsor end was used as a siding for some time afterwards. In 1865, the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, who owned the St Kilda line, purchased the Melbourne Suburban Railway Company and became the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company, and subsequently bought the St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company, which was in financial difficulties, for £99,500. The Victorian Government acquired the United railway company in July 1878.

In September 1887, the Brighton line was extended to Sandringham.

20th century

The new signalling system present at Windsor station, 1918

The Sandringham line became the first line in Victoria to be provided with automatic signals, with the line as far as Elsternwick converted in stages from 1915 to 1918. Then in 1919, the Sandringham line became, with the line to Essendon, the first line in the country to be electrified (apart from a test installation on the Flemington Racecourse line).^[7] Automatic signalling was provided the rest of the way to Sandringham in two stages in during 1926.^[7]

When the underground City Loop line was designed, it was not intended to cater for trains on the Port Melbourne, St Kilda, and Sandringham lines. However, a crossover was installed near Richmond to allow Sandringham trains to cross to the tracks used by the Frankston, Pakenham, and Cranbourne line trains, which had access to the underground loop. In 1985, two Sandringham trains each way were altered to run via the underground loop, and in 1987, with the Port Melbourne and St Kilda lines converted to light rail operation, all off-peak and many peak trains were routed via the underground loop.^{[citation needed]} The commencement of operations involved the service stopping at three new stations—Parliament, Melbourne Central (formally Museum), and Flagstaff.^[8] The Loop follows La Trobe and Spring Streets along the northern and eastern edges of the Hoddle Grid.^[9] The Loop connects with Melbourne's two busiest stations, Flinders Street and Southern Cross, via the elevated Flinders Street Viaduct.^[9] From 2021, Sandringham line services stopped operating through the loop as part of a timetable restructure.^[10]

21st century

Main article: Sandringham railway line § Future

In 2021, the metropolitan timetable underwent a major rewrite, resulting in all Sandringham line trains terminating at Flinders Street without operating through the City Loop.^[10]

Future

Network reconfiguration

When the new cross-city rail corridor being built by the Metro Tunnel opens in 2025 there will be a reorganisation of the Melbourne rail network.^[11] The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning plans to return the Frankston line to the City Loop, with dedicated use of the Caulfield group tunnel track.^[12] This will mean Frankston line trains will no longer through-run with Werribee and Williamstown line trains, and will again stop at City Loop stations Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Parliament.^[12] As part of the reconfiguration, the Sandringham line would instead begin through-running services to Werribee and Williamstown lines for the first time.^[12]

Stage 4 of the Network Development Plan – Metropolitan Rail proposed that the Upfield and Sandringham lines be joined via a reconfigured City Loop sometime in the 2030s.^[13]

Network and operations

Services

Services on the Sandringham line operates from approximately 5:00am to 12:00am (midnight) daily and all night on Friday and Saturday nights.^[14] Services run every 7–8 minutes during peak hour, with services running every 15 minutes during the inter-peak period on weekdays, and every 20 minutes at night and during the day on weekends (with the exception of early Sunday mornings when services run every 40 minutes until 10:00am). Additionally, services run every 60 minutes overnight on Friday and Saturday nights as part of the Night Network.^[3] Services don't run via the City Loop, instead they run direct to Flinders Street.^[15]

As of December 2024, one express train during a weekday on the Sandringham line is being the 6:05pm Flinders Street service from Sandringham.

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
Services do not operate via the City Loop

• ● – All trains stop
• ◐ – Some services do not stop
• ▲ – Only inbound trains stop
• | – Trains pass and do not stop

Sandringham Services[16]
Station	Zone	Local	Ltd Express	Middle Brighton
◼ Flinders Street	1	●	▲	▲
◼ Richmond		●	▲	▲
◼ South Yarra		●	▲	▲
◻ Prahran		●	▲	▲
◻ Windsor		●	▲	▲
◼ Balaclava		●	▲	▲
◻ Ripponlea		●	▲	▲
◼ Elsternwick		●	▲	▲
◻ Gardenvale		●	|	▲
◻ North Brighton	1/2	●	|	▲
◻ Middle Brighton		●	|	▲
◼ Brighton Beach		●	|
◻ Hampton	2	●	|
◼ Sandringham		●	▲

Operators

The Sandringham line has had a total of 11 operators since its opening in 1859. The line was initially operated by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company, the St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company, the Melbourne Railway Company, and the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company over the course of 19 years from 1859 till nationalisation in 1878. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from 1878 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line.^[17] These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation and Bayside Trains have a combined operational length of 121 years.^[17]

Bayside Trains was privatised in August 1999 and later rebranded M>Train. In 2002, M>Train was placed into receivership and the state government regained ownership of the line, with KPMG appointed as receivers to operate M>Train on behalf of the state government.^[18][19][20] Two years later, rival train operator Connex Melbourne took over the M>Train operations including the Sandringham line. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. These private operators have had a combined operational period of 25 years.^[21]

Past and present operators of the Sandringham line:

Operator	Assumed operations	Ceased operations	Length of operations
Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company*	1859	1862	3 years
St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company*
Melbourne Railway Company	1862	1865	3 years
Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company	1865	1878	13 years
Victorian Railways	1878	1983	105 years
Metropolitan Transit Authority	1983	1989	6 years
Public Transport Corporation	1989	1998	9 years
Bayside Trains (government operator)	1998	1999	1 years
M>Train	1999	2004	5 years
Connex Melbourne	2004	2009	5 years
Metro Trains Melbourne	2009	incumbent	15 years (ongoing)

*Operated part of the route

Route

v t e Sandringham line
Legend
km Multiple lines via North Melbourne City Loop 1.2 Southern Cross ●●●●●●● 2.5 Flagstaff ●●●● 3.1 Melbourne Central 4.3 Parliament ●● 0.0 Flinders Street ●● 0.1 Princes Bridge (closed) Hurstbridge & Mernda lines to Jolimont City Loop 1.8 Botanic Gardens (dismantled) 2.3 Punt Road (Hoddle Highway) 2.6 Richmond ●●●●●●■ 2.7 Swan Street Alamein, Belgrave, Glen Waverley & Lilydale lines to Burnley 3.4 Cremorne (dismantled) 3.6 Cremorne Bridge CityLink Yarra River 4.2 South Yarra ●●●■ 4.3 Toorak Road (Burwood Highway) Bairnsdale/Traralgon, Cranbourne, Frankston & Pakenham lines to Caulfield 5.5 Prahran ■■■ 5.7 High Street St Kilda – Windsor line to St Kilda (dismantled) 6.3 Windsor ■■■ 6.5 Dandenong Road (Princes Highway) 7.9 Balaclava ■■ 8.6 Ripponlea ■ 8.7 Glen Eira Road 9.1 Hotham Street 9.7 Elsternwick ■ Rosstown Railway to Oakleigh (dismantled) 10.9 Nepean Highway 11.1 Gardenvale 11.4 North Road 12.0 North Brighton 13.3 Middle Brighton 13.9 New Street 14.7 Brighton Beach 14.9 South Road 15.5 New Street 16.5 Hampton 17.9 Sandringham km

Interactive map of the Sandringham line in south-eastern Melbourne.

Sandringham (physical track)
Overview
Status	Operational with passenger services from Flinders Street to Sandringham
Owner	St Kilda and Brighton Railway (1859–1865) Melbourne and Suburban Railway (1859–1862) Melbourne Railway Company (1862–1865) Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway (1865–1878) Victorian Railways (VR) (1878–1974) VR as VicRail (1974–1983) MTA (The Met) (1983–1989) PTC (The Met) (1989–1997) VicTrack (1997–Current)
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Termini	Flinders Street Sandringham
Connecting lines	All metropolitan and Bairnsdale/Traralgon
Stations	14 current stations 2 former stations
Service
Services	Sandringham
History
Commenced	19 December 1859 (1859-12-19)
Opened	Princes Bridge to Richmond on 8 February 1859 (1859-02-08) Richmond to Cremorne on 12 December 1859 (1859-12-12) Windsor to North Brighton on 19 December 1859 (1859-12-19) Cremorne to Windsor on 22 December 1860 (1860-12-22) Flinders Street to Princes Bridge on 18 December 1865 (1865-12-18) North Brighton to Brighton Beach on 21 December 1861 (1861-12-21) Brighton Beach to Sandringham on 2 September 1887 (1887-09-02)
Completed	2 September 1887 (1887-09-02)
Electrified	28 May 1919 (1919-05-28)
Technical
Line length	18.090 km (11.241 mi)
Number of tracks	Twelve tracks: Flinders Street to Richmond Six tracks: Richmond to South Yarra Double track: South Yarra to Sandringham
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Operating speed	70 km/h (43 mph)
Signalling	Automatic block signalling
Maximum incline	1 in 93 (1.08%)

The Sandringham line forms a somewhat linear route with minor curves from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Sandringham. The route is 17.9 kilometres (11.1 mi) long and is predominantly doubled tracked, however between Flinders Street station and Richmond, the track is widened to 12 tracks, narrowing to 6 tracks between Richmond and South Yarra before again narrowing to 2 tracks between South Yarra and Sandringham.^[22] After departing from its terminus at Flinders Street, the Sandringham line traverses mainly flat country with few curves and fairly minimal earthworks for most of the line. However, sections of the line have been elevated or lowering into a cutting to eliminate level crossings.^[6] Despite historical removals, there are numerous level crossings still present on the line with no current plans to remove them.^[23]

The line follows the same alignment as the Cranbourne, Pakenham, and Frankston lines with the four services splitting onto different routes at South Yarra. The Sandringham line continues on its south eastern alignment, whereas the Cranbourne, Pakenham, and Frankston lines takes an eastern alignment towards their final destinations.^[24] From Balaclava, the line is never more than ~2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the eastern shore of Port Phillip. All of the rail line goes through built-up suburbs towards its terminus in Sandringham.^[24]

Stations

The line serves 14 stations across 17.9 kilometres (11.1 mi) of track. The stations are a mix of elevated, lowered, and ground level designs. The majority of stations are at ground level, with elevated or lowered stations constructed in conjunction with historical level crossing removals works.^[25]

Station	Accessibility	Opened	Terrain	Train connections	Other connections
Flinders Street	Yes—step free access	1854[5]	Lowered	16 connections  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Craigieburn line   Cranbourne line   Flemington Racecourse line   Frankston line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Hurstbridge line   Lilydale line   Mernda line   Pakenham line   Sunbury line   Upfield line   Werribee line   Williamstown line
Richmond	No—steep ramp	1859[5]	Elevated	8 connections  Alamein line   Belgrave line   Cranbourne line   Frankston line   Gippsland line   Glen Waverley line   Lilydale line   Pakenham line
South Yarra		1860[5]	Lowered	3 connections  Cranbourne line   Frankston line   Pakenham line
Prahran	Yes—step free access	1860[5]	Ground level
Windsor	No—steep ramp	1859[5]
Balaclava	Yes—step free access		Elevated
Ripponlea		1912[5]	Ground level
Elsternwick		1859[5]	Lowered
Gardenvale	No—steep ramp	1906[5]	Elevated
North Brighton	Yes—step free access	1859[5]	Ground level
Middle Brighton		1861[5]
Brighton Beach
Hampton		1887[5]
Sandringham

Station Histories

Station	Opened[26]	Closed[26]	Age	Notes[26]
Parliament	22 January 1983 || || data-sort-value=15,447 | 42 years	Not a stop since 2021
Melbourne Central	26 January 1981 || || data-sort-value=16,173 | 44 years	Formerly Museum[26] Not a stop since 2021
Flagstaff	27 May 1985 || || data-sort-value=14,591 | 39 years	Not a stop since 2021
Southern Cross	17 January 1859 || || data-sort-value=60,742 | 166 years	Formerly Batman's Hill Formerly Spencer Street Not a stop since 2021
Flinders Street	12 September 1854 || || data-sort-value=62,330 | 170 years	Formerly Melbourne Terminus
Princes Bridge	8 February 1859 || 1 October 1866 || data-sort-value=2,792 | 7 years
	2 April 1879 || 30 June 1980 || data-sort-value=36,979 | 101 years
Botanic Gardens	2 March 1859 || c. April 1862 || data-sort-value=1,133 | Approx. 3 years
Punt Road	8 February 1859 || 12 December 1859 || data-sort-value=307 | 10 months	Replaced by Swan Street (200m further along line)
Richmond	12 December 1859 || || data-sort-value=60,413 | 165 years	Formerly Swan Street
Cremorne	12 December 1859 || c. 28 December 1863 || data-sort-value=1,477 | Approx. 4 years
South Yarra	22 December 1860 || || data-sort-value=60,037 | 164 years	Formerly Gardiner's Creek Road
Prahran	22 December 1860 || || data-sort-value=60,037 | 164 years	Formerly Greville Street
Windsor	19 December 1859 || || data-sort-value=60,406 | 165 years	Formerly Chapel Street
Balaclava	19 December 1859 || || data-sort-value=60,406 | 165 years
Ripponlea	1 May 1912 || || data-sort-value=41,280 | 113 years
Elsternwick	19 December 1859 || || data-sort-value=60,406 | 165 years
Gardenvale	10 December 1906 || || data-sort-value=43,249 | 118 years
North Brighton	19 December 1859 || || data-sort-value=60,406 | 165 years	Formerly Bay Street
Middle Brighton	21 December 1861 || || data-sort-value=59,673 | 163 years	Formerly Church Street
Brighton Beach	21 December 1861 || || data-sort-value=59,673 | 163 years	Formerly Beach
Hampton	2 September 1887 || || data-sort-value=50,287 | 137 years	Formerly Hampton Formerly Retreat
Sandringham	2 September 1887 || || data-sort-value=50,287 | 137 years

Infrastructure

Rolling stock

Main articles: Siemens Nexas and Comeng

Siemens Nexas trains are widely used across the Sandringham line.

The Sandringham line uses two different types of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that are operated in a split six-car configuration. The primary rolling stock featured on the line is the Comeng EMUs contain three doors per side on each carriage and can accommodate up to 556 seated passengers in each six-car configuration.^[27] These trains were originally built between 1981 and 1988 and were later refurbished by Alstom & EDi Rail between 2000 and 2003 and UGL Rail between 2017 and 2021. Since 2021, Comeng EMUs are progressively being retired as new rolling stock is introduced to the rail network.^[28] The second type of rolling stock is the Siemens Nexas EMUs contain two doors per side on each carriage and can accommodate up to 432 seated passengers in each six-car configuration.^[29] The trains were originally built between 2002 and 2005 with a total of 72 three-car sets constructed.^[30]

Alongside the passenger trains, Sandringham line tracks and equipment are maintained by a fleet of engineering trains. The four types of engineering trains are: the shunting train; designed for moving trains along non-electrified corridors and for transporting other maintenance locomotives, for track evaluation; designed for evaluating track and its condition, the overhead inspection train; designed for overhead wiring inspection, and the infrastructure evaluation carriage designed for general infrastructure evaluation.^[31] Most of these trains are repurposed locomotives previously used by V/Line, Metro Trains, and the Southern Shorthaul Railroad.^[31]

Former rolling stock

When the line was electrified, the Sandringham line initially used a fleet of Swing Door and Tait EMUs. Until the 2000s, the line generally used all types of EMUs operating in Melbourne.

From 1982, as the Comeng EMUs entered service, the remaining Tait stock were cascaded onto the Sandingham line, as well as on the Port Melbourne and St Kilda lines as they were banned from running in the City Loop. At the same time, the refurbished Harris trains were put into service on those said three lines. From 1991, the line went back to using the regular Hitachi and Comeng trains until its displacement with the Siemens EMU.

Hitachi EMUs were removed from the line in December 2013.

Accessibility

In compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, all stations that are new-built or rebuilt are fully accessible and comply with these guidelines.^[32] The majority of stations on the corridor are fully accessible, however, there are some stations that haven't been upgraded to meet these guidelines.^[33] These stations do feature ramps, however, they have a gradient greater than 1 in 14.^[33] Stations that are fully accessible feature ramps that have a gradient less than 1 in 14, have at-grade paths, or feature lifts.^[33] These stations typically also feature tactile boarding indicators, independent boarding ramps, wheelchair accessible myki barriers, hearing loops, and widened paths.^[33][34]

Individual upgrade projects designed around improving station accessibility have occurred in recent years, with works making significant strides in improving network accessibility, with more than 71% of Sandringham line stations classed as fully accessible.^[35]

Signalling

The Sandringham line uses three position signalling which is widely used across the Melbourne train network.^[36] Three position signalling was first introduced in 1915, with the final section of the line converted to the new type of signalling in 1926.^[37] The Sandringham line was the first line in Victoria to be equipped with this technology and was also the first (along with part of the Craigieburn line) to have a regular electric service.^[38]