The Werribee line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's ninth longest metropolitan railway line at .
The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Werribee station in the south-west, serving 17 stations via Footscray, Newport and Laverton. Unusually amongst Melbourne's suburban lines, the Werribee line splits into two routes between Newport and Laverton: a single-track branch through Altona (known as the Altona loop or the Altona line), and a direct express route which bypasses Altona and has no intermediate stations. The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day (from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 am) with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hour, headways of 10 minutes are operated with services every 20 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Werribee line run with a two three-car formation of Comeng and Siemens Nexas trainsets.
Part of the line initially opened in 1857 by the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company. The line was progressively finished within the next two years, allowing trains to travel from Melbourne to Geelong. In April 1885, a short branch was opened off the Werribee line just past Newport to Williamstown Racecourse, and in November 1888, a branch was opened off the Racecourse branch to Altona, terminating at a station named Altona Beach. The construction of these lines played important parts in the development of Geelong and Melbourne's west during the 19th and 20th centuries, with the line continuing to be an important asset in the 21st century.
Since the 2010s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Werribee line, improvements and upgrades have been made. Works have included replacing sleepers, upgrading signalling technology, the removal of level crossings, planning for new infrastructure, the introduction of new rolling stock, and station accessibility upgrades.
Until February 2026, the Werribee line (and Williamstown line) was through routed with the Frankston line and was coloured green. On 1 February 2026, Frankston line trains returned to the City Loop. As a result, the Werribee lines terminated at Flinders Street Station as a temporary arrangement, with no services continuing beyond Flinders Street. The colour of the line was also changed to pink, the same colour as the Sandringham line. Since 23 August 2026, the Werribee line is through routed with the Sandringham line.
History
19th century
In 1857, the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company (G&MRC) opened the Werribee to Little River section of the line they were building between Newport and Geelong, then in June of that year, they opened the section between Werribee and a temporary station near Newport, known as Greenwich. The intention was to connect to the Williamstown line being built by the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company, with whom they had arranged permission to run the former company's trains over the latter company's tracks to Melbourne, but the Williamstown line was not yet ready.
However, by October 1857, construction of the Williamstown line had sufficiently advanced to allow the Geelong trains to run to the terminus at Williamstown Pier, so Greenwich station was closed and a connection was made to the Williamstown line towards Williamstown. From Williamstown Pier, passengers could connect to a ferry across Hobsons Bay to Port Melbourne.
The Williamstown line fully opened in January 1859, so the connection near Newport towards Williamstown was removed and replaced with a connection to Newport, and the through running of Geelong trains to Melbourne commenced.
In April 1885, a short branch was opened off the Werribee line just past Newport to Williamstown Racecourse, and in November 1888, a branch was opened off the Racecourse branch to Altona, terminating at a station named Altona Beach. This branch was opened by the Altona and Laverton Bay Freehold and Investment Company to encourage people to buy their land in the area. However, the line closed less than two years later, in August 1890.
20th century A portion of the Altona Beach line near Williamstown Racecourse was leased by the Victorian Railways (VR) in 1906 to store race trains. Sometime between 1911 and 1919, the line reopened for goods trains with a siding built from Altona Beach to the Melbourne and Altona Colliery Company mine. From November 1917, the VR worked on the line on behalf of the then owners, Altona Beach Estates Ltd., but to a relocated Altona Beach station, short of the original terminus.
The VR electrified the Williamstown line and the branch to Williamstown Racecourse in August 1920. In October 1924, the VR took total control of the Altona Beach line, and electrified it in October 1926. Automatic Block Signalling was commissioned between South Kensington and Yarraville in August 1927, and then on to Newport. The Automatic and Track Control system was installed from Newport South towards Geelong, enabling bidirectional use of the then single track line.
The Williamstown Racecourse branch closed in May 1950. Duplication of the Werribee line occurred in stages between 1960 and 1968, with the Altona branch converted to Automatic Block Signalling in October 1967. First announced by the Transport Minister Joe Rafferty in 1977, the line from Altona Junction to Werribee was electrified in September 1983.
By the early 1980s, the Altona line was under threat of closure, as recommended in the Lonie Report. In October 1981, the rail service was drastically cut, with all shuttle services withdrawn, and only two morning and evening trains being operated to and from Melbourne. However, a change of state government in 1982 saw the restitution of many services in July of that year. On 21 January 1985, the line was extended to Westona, which served as the terminus until April of that year when the line was extended to Laverton."Victoria" Railway Digest March 1985 page 97"Victoria" Railway Digest May 1985 page 151 When the Altona line was extended to Laverton, it was integrated into the Werribee line, becoming the Altona loop. At the same time as the extension to Laverton, the line from Altona to Westona, which had temporarily been operated by Staff and Ticket safeworking, was converted to Automatic and Track Control.
21st century In November 2008, a major timetable change took place on the Craigieburn, Sydenham, Upfield and Werribee lines. This change saw all Werribee services during weekday peak periods altered to run direct to and from Flinders Street as a result of train overcrowding in the Northern Loop in years prior. This was part of a wider City Loop timetable restructuring. Since the completion of the Altona Loop, almost every Werribee bound service ran via Altona, but a timetable re-write in May 2011 saw this section converted to a separate service for the majority of the time. The rewrite introduced the controversial practice of having trains serving the Altona Loop run as a shuttle service between Laverton and Newport during off peak hours. Shuttle services were ended in August 2017, with weekday direct services to and from the city being reinstated to the Altona Loop.
Also as part of a new timetable in May 2011. The remainder of weekday Werribee line services were altered to run direct to and from Flinders Street and across to the Frankston line as part of the formation of the new 'Cross City Group'. With Werribee services now bypassing Altona. frequencies in peak periods were increased to every 10-11 minutes, up from every 15. Although all weekday services no longer operated via the City Loop, all weekend services continued to run through the loop until 2021.
In June 2015, the completion of the Regional Rail Link allowed for the rerouting of Geelong and Warrnambool services via the 90 km of new track constructed between Little River and Deer Park stations. Instead of stopping at select stations on the Werribee line, services now stop at new stations at Wyndham Vale and Tarneit which are in Melbourne's growing western suburbs. The separation of suburban and regional trains has reduced overcrowding, increased capacity, and improved service reliability on the Werribee line in addition to the benefits seen on Geelong services.
In January 2021, as part of another major timetable, frequencies across the week were heavily improved. Wait times on weekend mornings and late nights were brought down from every half hour to every twenty minutes. Services to Laverton and Williamstown were altered to stop at South Kensington station in place of Werribee express services on weekdays as well as Werribee local services on weekends. This change also saw weekend Werribee line services removed from the City Loop and altered to run direct to Flinders Street and onwards to Frankston like was already the case on weekdays.
As part of the 'Big Switch' timetable change in February 2026, through running from Werribee to Frankston ceased with the Frankston line returning to the City Loop. As a result of this change, the Werribee line was altered to only run to and from Flinders Street direct with select services at certain times continuing instead towards Sandringham.
On 6 August 2026, the Victorian state government announced that the Werribee and Williamstown lines would begin through running to Sandringham full time instead of only late at night. This timetable change took effect on 23 August 2026.
Future Level crossing removals
The Level Crossing Removal Project has announced the removal of all remaining level crossings on the Werribee line, to be completed in stages from 2018 to 2030. In 2018, one level crossing was removed at Kororoit Creek Road, Williamstown North. The crossing was removed by raising the rail line onto a rail bridge above the road with partial duplication of the Altona Loop completed as part of the project. In 2019, another level crossing was removed at Aviation Road, Laverton. The crossing was removed by raising the road onto a bridge above the rail line with upgrades to Aircraft station in conjunction with the project. The upgrades included a redesigned station forecourt and construction of a new pedestrian underpass. In 2021, a total of 3 level crossings were removed at various locations along the line. Crossings were removed at Old Geelong Road in Hoppers Crossing and Werribee Street and Cherry Street in Werribee. Two of these crossings were removed with road bridges and one with a rail bridge. The removal of the crossing at Old Geelong Road in Hoppers Crossing also included an upgrade to Hoppers Crossing station with a new overpass, station forecourt, and bus interchange. The final five crossings along the line (excluding the ones on the Altona Loop) will be removed by 2030. The crossing at Hudsons Road, Spotswood and Maddox Road, Newport will be removed by constructing two separate rail bridges with a new Spotswood station also being built. In addition, the crossing at Maidstone Street will be removed with the construction of a road bridge and two crossings—Anderson Street and Champion Road—will be closed off. At the end of these works, the Werribee line will be fully level crossing free by 2030.
Melbourne Metro 2