The Alamein line is a commuter railway line on the Melbourne metropolitan railway network serving the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, the line is coloured dark blue and is one of the four lines that constitute the Burnley group. It is the city's second shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Alamein station in the east, serving 18 stations via Burnley, Camberwell, Riversdale, and Ashburton.
The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day (from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 am) with all-night service on Fridays and Saturdays. During peak hours, headways of up to 15 minutes are operated with services every 10–30 minutes during off-peak hours.
History
19th century
What is now known as the Alamein line was opened as the Outer Circle Railway between 1890 and 1891. The segment still in use today was opened on 24 March 1890.
20th century
The section from Camberwell to Ashburton was reopened 4 July 1898 and was operated by a steam locomotive and single carriage. The Deepdene Dasher was the last passenger steam train in suburban Melbourne.
On 28 June 1948, the line was extended to the new Housing Commission of Victoria estate of Alamein, with some services extended to the new terminus. The first long stage opened on 7 November 1954, from Hartwell to Ashburton stations, followed by the duplication and automatic signalling of the stretch of line from Riversdale to Hartwell section on 31 July 1955. From 15 July 1955, Ashburton station ceased to be a regular terminus.
From 9 July 1972, the service was cut to every hour on Sundays, and from 10 December 1973 it was changed to 20 minutes during the day and every 40 minutes at night and on Saturday afternoons. Through trains to Flinders Street off-peak were provided from 20 January 1975 at a frequency of every 15 minutes Monday to Friday, with Box Hill trains running express from Camberwell. made another attempt to close or convert the line. However, once again, there was a significant public outcry in the areas bordering it and the Alamein line has remained open and in operation well into the 21st century.
21st century
The 2000s saw the introduction of the X'Trapolis 100 rolling stock on the line. The new stock features three doors per side on each carriage with the ability to accommodate up to 456 seated passengers in each six-car configuration.<!--When a future project is announced, add a heading called "Future". Underneath that heading, add a level 1 subheading with an appropriate title before adding content (similar to all other Melbourne metropolitan rail line articles)-->
Network and operations
Services
Services on the Alamein line operate from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 am daily.
Train services on the Alamein line are also subjected to maintenance and renewal works, usually on selected Fridays and Saturdays. Shuttle bus services are provided throughout the duration of works for affected commuters.
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<br>Some services do not operate via the City Loop
- ● – All trains stop
- ◐ – Some services do not stop
- ▲ – Only inbound trains stop
- ▼ – Only outbound trains stop
- | – Trains pass and do not stop
Guide
Source:
Weekdays
- Early morning, interpeak and night services to and from Alamein run only as a shuttle from Camberwell with all services stopping at all stations.
- During the morning and afternoon peaks services to and from Alamein run all the way to Flinders Street.
(Some services run to different stopping patterns during peak hours)
Weekends
- All services on weekends to and from Alamein run only as a shuttle from Camberwell with all services stopping at all stations.
Night Network
- All night network services to and from Alamein run only as a shuttle from Camberwell with all services stopping at all stations.
{| class="wikitable defaultcenter col1left"
! colspan="6" style="background:#;" |<span style="color:white;">Alamein Services</span>
|+
!Station
!Zone
!Local
!Ltd Express
!Riversdale
!Shuttle
|-
|◼ || rowspan="18" | 1 || ● || ● || ▼ || rowspan="11" |
|-
|◼ || ◐ || rowspan="4" | || ◐
|-
|◼ || ◐ || ◐
|-
|◼ || ◐ || ◐
|-
|◼ || ◐ || ◐
|-
|◼ || ● || ● || ▼
|-
| || ◐ || || ◐
|-
|◼ || ● || || ◐
|-
| || ● || || ◐
|-
|◼ || ● || ◐ || ▼
|-
|◻ || ● || || ◐
|-
|◼ || ● || ● || ▼ || ●
|-
| || ● || ● || ▼ || ●
|-
| || ● || ● || rowspan="5" | || ●
|-
| || ● || ● || ●
|-
| || ● || ● || ●
|-
|◼ || ● || ● || ●
|-
| || ● || ● || ●
|}
Operators
The Alamein line has had a total of 6 operators since its opening in 1898. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from its first service in 1898 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line. These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation and Hillside Trains have a combined operational length of 101 years. Hillside Trains was privatised in August 1999 and later rebranded as Connex Melbourne. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. Both private operators have had a combined operational period of years.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Past and present operators of the Alamein line:
!Operator
!Assumed operations
!Ceased operations
!Length of operations
|-
|Victorian Railways
|1898
|1983
|85 years
|-
|Metropolitan Transit Authority
|1983
|1989
|6 years
|-
|Public Transport Corporation
|1989
|1998
|9 years
|-
|Hillside Trains (government operator)
|1998
|1999
|1 years
|-
|Connex Melbourne
|1999
|2009
|10 years
|-
|Metro Trains Melbourne
|2009
|incumbent
| years (ongoing)
|}
Route
The Alamein line forms a relatively straight route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Alamein. The route is long and is predominantly doubled-tracked, however between Flinders Street station and Richmond, the track is widened to 12 tracks, narrowing to 4 tracks between Richmond and Burnley, to 3 track between Burnley and Camberwell, and to two tracks after Camberwell . After Ashburton, the line is narrowed to a single track which remains till its terminus in Alamein. After departing from its terminus at Flinders Street, the Alamein line traverses gentle hills with moderately heavy earthworks for most of the line. Some sections of the line have been elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings.
The line follows the same alignment as the Belgrave, Glen Waverley, and Lilydale lines with the Glen Waverley line splitting off after Burnley and the three remaining services continuing together through Camberwell. At Camberwell, the Alamein line continues on its southern alignment, whereas the Belgrave and Lilydale lines take an eastern alignment towards their final destinations. All of the rail line goes through built-up suburbs towards its terminus in Alamein.
Stations
The line serves 18 stations across of track. The stations are a mix of elevated, lowered, underground, and ground-level designs. Underground stations are present only in the City Loop, with the majority of elevated and lowered stations being constructed as part of level crossing removals.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Station
!Accessibility
!Opened
!Terrain
!Train connections
!Other connections
|-
|Flinders Street
| rowspan="5" |Yes—step free access
|1854
|Lowered
|
|
|-
|Southern Cross
|1859
!Closed The trains were originally built between 2002 and 2004 as well as between 2009 and 2020 with a total of 212 three-car sets constructed. The trains are shared with 7 other metropolitan train lines and have been in service since 2003.
Alongside the passenger trains, Alamein 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. Most of these trains are repurposed locomotives previously used by V/Line, Metro Trains, and the Southern Shorthaul Railroad. Less than half of stations on the line are fully accessible as they haven't been upgraded to meet these guidelines. These stations do feature ramps, however, they have a gradient greater than 1 in 14. These stations typically also feature tactile boarding indicators, independent boarding ramps, wheelchair accessible myki barriers, hearing loops, and widened paths.
Signalling
The Alamein line uses three-position signalling, which is used across the Melbourne train network. Three position signalling was first introduced on the line in 1919, with the final section to Ashburton converted to the new type of signalling in 1962.