Upfield line
The Upfield line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fifth-shortest metropolitan railway line at. The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Upfield station in the north, serving 19 stations via North Melbourne, Brunswick, Coburg, and Fawkner.
The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day with a 24-hour service on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hours, headways of up to 15 minutes are operated, with services every 20–30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains run in two three-car formations of either Comeng or Siemens Nexas sets.
Services on the line began in 1884 when it opened from North Melbourne to Coburg. In October 1889, it was extended to Somerton. The continued existence of the line was in serious doubt in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with proposals for it either to be converted to a light rail or fully closed.
With the future of the rail line secured, and patronage growth in the 2000s, infrastructure upgrades were carried out on the line. They included replacing sleepers, upgrading signalling technology, removing level crossings, introducing new rolling stock, and improving station accessibility. The 2018 Victorian Rail Plan identified the need to reopen the rail line between Upfield and Somerton/Roxburgh Park, and run regional and metropolitan rail services via that route in the near future.
History
19th century
The Upfield line originated as a line from North Melbourne to Coburg. The line was opened by the Governor of Victoria Henry Loch in September 1884, and cost £53,000. In October 1889, it was extended to Somerton, with duplication providing an additional track from North Melbourne to Royal Park in September 1888, to South Brunswick in May 1889, between Brunswick and Coburg in December 1891, and between South Brunswick to Brunswick in August 1892.20th century
Early upgrades (1900–1950)
The Coburg to Somerton section closed in July 1903, but was reopened as far as Fawkner in December 1906. The reopening was for funeral trains only, in conjunction with the creation of the adjacent Fawkner Cemetery. Normal passenger services were extended to Fawkner in 1915, and the line was electrified by December 1920.In March 1928, despite strong resistance from the Railways Commissioners, the state government ordered the reopening of the section from Fawkner to Somerton for passengers. Passenger services were provided by an AEC railmotor, which connected with electric trains at Fawkner.
Upfield—Somerton link (1950–1970)
In May 1956, the line from Fawkner to Somerton was again closed, but only three years later, in July 1959, the Upfield to Somerton section reopened for goods trains. Also in 1959, the track from Coburg to Fawkner was duplicated and, in the following month, the section from Fawkner to Upfield was reopened, after being electrified, to cater for workers at the new Ford automotive factory next to the new Upfield station. In September 1958, Sunday evening services after 6pm withdrawn, being replaced by adjacent tram routes, particularly the North Coburg line. At the outer end of the railway line, a bus service was provided, connecting with trams in North Coburg. In June 1961, that arrangement was extended to apply for the whole of Sunday and, in October 1961, it was further extended to include services after 7:30pm between Mondays and Saturdays.In January 1963, the line from Somerton to the Ford factory was re-laid as dual gauge gauntlet track, to provide a standard gauge connection with the new North East standard gauge line at Somerton. In October 1968, electric staff safeworking was introduced on the Upfield to Somerton section. However, the Upfield to Somerton section, which included four industrial sidings, has not been used for some time and is out of commission.
Proposed light rail conversion and modernisation efforts (1970–2000)
Automatic signalling advanced a little further along the line in August 1971, with Royal Park to Jewell being converted. In April 1972, the Macaulay to Royal Park section was similarly converted. By May 1988, serious consideration was given to proposals to convert the line to light rail, following the conversion of the St Kilda and Port Melbourne lines in 1987. A report submitted to the Cain government determined that the route suffered from low passenger numbers, redundancy with the Route 19 tram, outdated signalling systems, manned boom gates well past their prime, and that substantial investments would be required to modernise the line to meet modern standards. After discussions with local councils, unions, the public, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority, two options were floated. These options included:- The conversion of the entire line, or part of the line to light rail
- The closure of large amounts of the line and instead running the light rail via Sydney Road
These proposals were put to rest in April 1995, when it was announced that $23 million would be spent upgrading the line. The work included the provision of power signalling for the whole line, and the installation of boomgates at all level crossings, except for a few that were closed instead. At the time, many of the numerous level crossings on the line were still controlled by gatekeepers, who opened and closed the gates manually for every train.
21st century
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Royal Park station played a critical role in the running of the games, as it was centrally located to the athletes village and the State Netball and Hockey Centre. The line and station became heavily utilised during the games, with increased security and staff presence at the station.Future
Level Crossing Removals
In 2017, a level crossing was removed at Camp Road, Campbellfield by lowering the rail line underneath the road. The rail line was elevated from Coburg to Moreland stations in 2020 to remove four level crossings. Crossings were removed at Bell Street, Moreland Road, Munro Street, and Reynard Street, with both Coburg and Moreland stations rebuilt as part of these removals.Eight further level crossings between Anstey and Royal Park stations are planned to be removed by 2030, at Albert Street, Albion Street, Brunswick Road, Dawson Street, Hope Street, Union Street, Victoria Street, and Park Street. At the end of these removals, the Upfield line will have 10 remaining crossings not slated for removal. As part of this project, Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey stations are set to be closed and replaced by two new stations: the new northern station is currently planned to be located near Hope Street, approximately 200 metres south of the current Anstey station, and the new southern station is planned to be located between Union Street and Dawson Street, approximately 200 metres north of the current Jewell station. Both stations will be approximately 450 metres away from the current Brunswick station.
The decision to build two stations in different locations instead of rebuilding all three generated criticism from residents and the local council. Local newspaper Brunswick Voice reported that the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson, claimed "the decision to build two stations followed 18 months of technical and engineering assessments which found fewer stations would boost capacity on the line in the future and deliver more open space", noting that " the plan would also minimise the impact to heritage in the area, but provided no detail about whether the three station buildings and the historic boom gate operators' cabins would be preserved".
Wallan extension
Highlighted in the 2018 Victorian Rail Plan, a proposal exists for the Upfield line to be extended via the current Somerton link to the Craigieburn line, then onto Wallan. The 2018 Victorian Rail Plan has proposed the following projects take place as part of the Wallan extension:| Stage | Project | Notes |
| Stage 2 | Rerouting of Seymour and Shepparton services via the Upfield line instead of the Craigieburn line | This project is meant to be completed by the opening of the Metro Tunnel in 2025, however, as of 2023 there hasn't been any progress |
| Stage 3 | Somerton to Craigieburn quadruplication | |
| Stage 4 | Extension of the Upfield line to Wallan
|
Network and operations
Services
Services on the Upfield line operates from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 daily. The Upfield line has one of the least-frequent peak-period services in Melbourne's railway network, with train frequency being every 15–20 minutes while outside the peak the frequency is reduced to 20–30 minutes throughout the entire route. On Friday and Saturday nights, services run 24 hours a day, with 60-minute frequencies available outside of normal operating hours. On Wednesdays, some Upfield line services terminate at Batman, operating as limited-stop trains via Flinders Street, Southern Cross, North Melbourne, Royal Park and Coburg, and return to the city via the City Loop.Train services on the Upfield 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.