The Craigieburn line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's seventh shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Craigieburn station in the north, serving 21 stations via North Melbourne, Essendon, and Broadmeadows. 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 up to 5 minutes are operated with services every 20–30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Craigieburn line run with a two three-car formations of Comeng, Siemens Nexas or X'Trapolis 2.0 trainsets.
Services on the line began from North Melbourne to Essendon by the Melbourne & Essendon Railway Company in November 1860. It was closed shortly after, however, the Victorian Railways reopened the Flemington Racecourse line (including the Essendon line as far as Newmarket) in November 1867, and in January 1871, to Essendon. The line was progressively electrified and, in 1921, the line was electrified to Broadmeadows, where it remained until the extension of electrification in 2007.
Since the 2000s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Craigieburn line, improvements and upgrades have been made. Works have included replacing sleepers, upgrading signalling technology, the extension of the line to Craigieburn, the construction of new stations, the removal of level crossings, the introduction of new rolling stock, and station accessibility upgrades.
History
19th century The line from North Melbourne to Essendon was opened by the Melbourne & Essendon Railway Company in November 1860. Soon after, the company opened a branch from Newmarket to Flemington Racecourse. Both lines were closed shortly after, in July 1864. The Victorian Railways reopened the Flemington Racecourse line (including the Essendon line as far as Newmarket) in November 1867, and in January 1871, to Essendon. In April 1872, the line was extended to a temporary terminus outside Seymour, awaiting completion of a bridge over the Goulburn River. In December 1894, through services were provided from Essendon to Brighton Beach on the Sandringham line.
20th century Automatic Block Signalling was introduced on the line in 1918, with Kensington to Essendon being converted in June of that year, and North Melbourne to Kensington in October. In May 1919, Flinders Street to Essendon and the Sandringham line were the first lines to be electrified in Melbourne, apart from a test installation on the Flemington Racecourse line. In 1921, the line was electrified to Broadmeadows, where it remained until the extension of electrification in 2007.
In January 1924, an extra pair of tracks, including a flying junction, opened between North Melbourne and Kensington, enabling the separation of passenger and goods traffic in the busy section. Further works were carried out in 1929, when the double tracked Albion–Jacana freight line opened, permitting freight trains to avoid the line via Essendon.
A branch line was opened during the Second World War to Broadstore, designed to connect Broadmeadows station with the Maygar Barracks. The line opened on 12 October 1942 and remaining in operation until 1982, when usage of the base began to cease.
Automatic Block Signalling was extended to Broadmeadows in November 1965.
21st century
In 2003, an unmanned suburban train rolled the length of the line from Broadmeadows station for nearly , eventually crashing into another stationary train at Spencer Street station (now Southern Cross station). 11 people sustained minor injuries, however, nobody was seriously injured or killed from the accident.
On 30 September 2007, electrification of the Broadmeadows line was extended along the regional V/Line tracks to Craigieburn. The Craigieburn rail project delivered projects including:
Upgrading Craigieburn station to premium station status A new station at Roxburgh Park New train stabling facilities at Craigieburn Construction of overhead wiring system with new sub-stations Installation of new signalling systems along the Broadmeadows—Craigieburn corridor The provision for a new station at Coolaroo (this ended up being built under another government)
The Craigieburn Rail project started construction in May 2005 and was completed in late September 2007. An additional set of projects were delivered later on, with a new station at Coolaroo opened in 2010 and the construction of a fully-fledged train maintenance facility under the Brumby government.
On 9 April 2012, a train maintenance facility, located north of the station, was opened by then Minister for Public Transport, Terry Mulder.
In 2026, the Craigieburn Train Maintenance Facility was upgraded to accommodate the housing of the X'Trapolis 2.0 trains. The upgrades included more space accommodated for the X'Trapolis 2.0 trains, extended maintenance pits, new roof platforms and improved train maintenance activities.
In May 2026, the X'Trapolis 2.0 trains was introduced to the Craigieburn line to replace the existing ageing Comeng fleet, which currently serves the Craigieburn line.
Level Crossing Removals
The Level Crossing Removal Project announced the removal of 2 level crossings on the line, which were completed in stages between 2018 and 2022. In 2018, one level crossing was removed at Buckley Street, Essendon. The crossing was removed by lowering the road line underneath the rail line. The second crossing to be removed was the one at Glenroy Road, Glenroy, by lowering the rail line underneath the road. In addition, Glenroy station was rebuilt with a modern, wheelchair accessible, lowered design. As a result of these removals, the Craigieburn line now has a number of remaining crossings on the corridor that have not been slated for removal since the project's announcement.
Future
Wallan extension Highlighted in the 2018 Victorian Rail Plan, a proposal exists for the Craigieburn line to be connected to the Upfield line, via the construction of a rail link along the Somerton rail corridor. In addition, the Upfield line would be extended to Wallan. The 2018 Victorian Rail Plan has proposed the following projects take place as part of the Wallan extension: +StageProjectNotesStage 2 (Metro Tunnel Day One)Rerouting of Seymour and Shepparton services via the Upfield line instead of the Craigieburn lineThis project was meant to be completed by the opening of the Metro Tunnel in 2025, however, there has not been any recent progress and this has not happened.Stage 3Somerton to Craigieburn quadruplicationNo recent progress.Stage 4Extension of the Upfield line to Wallan
Electrifying the Somerton link Electrifying the regional track between Craigieburn and Wallan Upgrading Wallan and Donnybrook stations Constructing a new station at Lockerbie Reopening Beveridge stationThe Craigieburn line would remain terminating at Craigieburn station, with the Upfield line continuing past Craigieburn, stopping at 3 other stations before terminating at Wallan. There has not been any recent progress. In 2018, the government announced that a business case would be completed for to further investigate the positivity for these series of projects to commence. A business case was completed, however, it was not released to the public. Since the business case in 2018, there has been little developments despite the 'Metro Tunnel Day One' milestone of the 2018 Plan fast approaching. Only a small amount of attention has been given by local residents, council, an action group and some political parties.
Network and operations
Services Services on the Craigieburn line operates from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 daily. In general, during peak hours, train frequency is 5–10 minutes in the AM peak on the Craigieburn line while during non-peak hours the frequency is reduced to 20–30 minutes throughout the entire route. On Friday nights and weekends, services run 24 hours a day, with 60 minute frequencies available outside of normal operating hours.
Train services on the Craigieburn 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 patternsSome services do not operate via the City Loop ● – All trains stop ◐ – Some services do not stop ▼ – Only outbound trains stop | – Trains pass and do not stop
Craigieburn Services+StationZoneLocalBroadmeadows◼ 1 ◐ ▼ ◼ ◐ ▼ ◼ ◐ ▼ ◼ ● ● ◼ ◐ ● ◼ ● ● ● ◐ ◻ ● ◐ ◻ ● ◐ ◻ ● ◐ ◼ ● ● ● ● ● ● 1/2 ● ● ● ● ◼ ● ● 2 ● ● ◼ ● ● ● ● ◼ ●
Operators The Craigieburn line has had a total of 8 operators since its opening in 1860. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from the acquisition of the service from private operator the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company in 1871 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line."Melbourne's Rail Network to be Split" Railway Digest November 1997 page 12 These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation, and Bayside Trains have a combined operational length of 129 years.
Bayside Trains was privatised in August 1998 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.National Express walks out of Australian rail service The Daily Telegraph (London) 17 December 2002Receivers take over train, tram group The Age 24 December 2002Victorian passenger services get new managers Rail Express 28 January 2003 Two years later, rival train operator Connex Melbourne took over the M>Train operations including the Frankston line. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. The private operators have had a combined operational period of years. +Past and present operators of the Craigieburn line:OperatorAssumed operationsCeased operationsLength of operationsMelbourne and Essendon Railway Company186018644 yearsVictorian Railways18711983112 yearsMetropolitan Transit Authority198319896 yearsPublic Transport Corporation198919989 yearsBayside Trains (government operator)199820002 yearsM>Train200020044 yearsConnex Melbourne200420095 yearsMetro Trains Melbourne2009incumbent years (ongoing)
Route
The Craigieburn line forms a somewhat linear route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Craigieburn. The route is long and is fully double tracked. The only underground section of the Craigieburn line is in the City Loop, where the service stops at 3 underground stations. Exiting the city, the line steadily rises after leaving North Melbourne until after Essendon, when it then drops slightly to cross Moonee Ponds Creek. Soon after the line encounters the Glenroy Bank, a continuous rising gradient of 1 in 50 for almost 3 kilometres (1.9 mi). After Glenroy, it continues to rise to the end of the suburban line (and beyond). Some sections of the line has been elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings. Despite some removals, there are a number of level crossings still present with no current plans to remove them.