Rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 2,357 km of Victorian broad gauge () lines, and 1,912 km of standard gauge () freight and interstate lines; the latter increasing with gauge conversion of the former. Historically, a few experimental gauge lines were built, along with various private logging, mining and industrial railways. The rail network radiates from the state capital, Melbourne, with main interstate links to Sydney and to Adelaide, as well as major lines running to regional centres, upgraded as part of the Regional Fast Rail project.
The government-owned VicTrack owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in Victoria, which it leases to Public Transport Victoria which then sub-leases assets and infrastructure as appropriate to rail and tram operators. The state has four railway networks:
Metro Trains Melbourne operates Melbourne's electrified metropolitan network providing passenger services with electric multiple units,
V/Line operates the country passenger network with diesel trains,
Australian Rail Track Corporation leases from VicTrack the standard gauge tracks from Melbourne to Albury and to Serviceton to operate the interstate Melbourne-Adelaide and Melbourne-Sydney services, and
the grain network in the north west of the state, connected to the ports at Geelong and Portland. Freight services are operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad, Pacific National and SCT Logistics (interstate and intrastate), and Qube Logistics (intrastate).
Victoria does not have a dominant mining base as with other states, and has traditionally been more dependent on agriculture for rail freight traffic. By the 1990s road transport had captured most general freight traffic, with an average of only 6.1 million tonnes of intrastate freight carried each year between 1996 and 1998; containers being the major cargo, followed by cement, logs, quarry products and steel.
History
The first railway lines in Victoria were built in the 1850s, and were privately owned and operated. These started having financial problems and were taken over by the Government Railway Department (Victorian Railways), which was established by the Colonial Government and became a vertically integrated government service. This structure remained until corporatisation began in the 1970s, followed by privatisation in the 1990s.
The rail network reached a peak in 1942 but steadily declined, as branch and cross country lines were closed until the 1980s.
First lines
Australia's first steam-operated railway was a broad gauge line between the Melbourne (or City) Terminus (on the site of modern-day Flinders Street station) and Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). It was constructed by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company and opened in September 1854. The first country line in Victoria was from Melbourne to Geelong, which was opened in 1857 by the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company. In the early years, the lines were constructed by private companies.
The suburban network expanded to the east from Princes Bridge to Richmond in 1859, then later to Brighton and Hawthorn by the early 1860s. The initial suburban lines were all built by different private companies centred on Flinders Street, which amalgamated into the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company by 1865; public ownership did not occur until 1878. In 1862, Victorian Railways lines had reached the great gold rush towns of Bendigo and Ballarat, and in 1864, railways were extended to the Murray River port of Echuca. In the 1870s, the Government Railway Department (Victorian Railways) started to build its own lines.
In 1883, the first connection to another colony's rail system was made, when the Albury-Wodonga line was completed to join the New South Wales Government Railways network at Albury, requiring a break-of-gauge to New South Wales' (standard gauge). It was then followed in 1887 by a connection with the broad gauge South Australian Railways at Serviceton, with the Intercolonial Express (now The Overland) to Adelaide running between the capitals. Additional trunk lines were also built though the 1870s, with rails extended to Sale, Portland and Colac; and the first branch lines built. It was a time of improved train safety, with the first interlocking of railway signalling to protect trains provided in 1874, and tests of continuous train brakes carried out in 1884.