History
The Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company opened the first section of the Albury-Wodonga line from North Melbourne to Essendon in 1860. Following its takeover by the Victorian Government in 1867, the line was extended by 1872 to School House Lane on the south side of the Goulburn River near Seymour, and later that year to Seymour and then to Longwood. Benalla, Wangaratta, Springhurst and Wodonga were reached in 1873, connecting with the New South Wales Government Railways at Albury at a break-of-gauge in 1883. the design engineer was Robert Watson.
Construction of a standard gauge track parallel with the broad gauge track from Albury to Melbourne was commenced in 1959, completing the Sydney-Melbourne railway. The first freight train operated on the line on 3 January 1962, followed by the first passenger train on 16 April the same year.
The line was once the home of a number of prestige passenger services between the state capitals of Melbourne to Sydney, including the Sydney Limited, Spirit of Progress, Southern Aurora, and Intercapital Daylight; but due to declining patronage were replaced by the CountryLink XPT from the 1990s.
Maintaining two parallel single track railways has drawn criticisms over the years, including inefficiencies in maintaining track, operating trains, and duplicated train control centres. By 2001 the State Government announced the gauge conversion of the broad gauge line to standard, but action was stifled due largely to complex leasing arrangements. Speed restrictions had been applied to the broad gauge line due to track deterioration.
In May 2008 it was again announced that the line would be upgraded, with the conversion of 200 kilometres (120 mi) of broad gauge track to standard gauge between Seymour and Albury, construction of a 5 km (3.1 mi) bypass around Wodonga, and rail upgrades between Melbourne and Seymour carried out, including new passing loops. New passenger platforms were to be built on the standard gauge line, and V/Line locomotives and carriages gauge converted to operate on the line. Costing A$501.3 million, the Victorian Government was to contribute A$171.3 million, the Australian Government was to invest A$45 million for the Wodonga Rail Bypass, and the Australian Rail Track Corporation was to contribute A$285 million and will take-on responsibility for the ongoing operation of the new north-east standard gauge rail line under a 45-year lease agreement with Victoria. The project was due for completion by 2010, with passenger services disrupted for up to 12 months.
On 8 November 2008, broad gauge passenger rail services on the line ceased after the running of the evening V/Line service from Melbourne to Albury and a special train, operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre, forming the final passenger service to run from Albury to Melbourne. In December 2008 standardisation works commenced, being contracted by ARTC to the Southern Improvement Alliance. The first train to run along the new Wodonga Rail Bypass operated in March 2010.
In early August 2010 CountryLink decided to terminate all Sydney-Melbourne XPT services at Albury for an indefinite length of time, due to defects in the newly resleepered track. "Mud holes" in the track resulted in speed restrictions on more than 200 kilometres (about 66 per cent) of the line between the Albury and Melbourne, adding an extra 1.5 hours to the travelling time. Train drivers have blamed the ARTC's $285 million concrete sleeper project for the track issues, stating that the incorrect insertion of 300,000 new concrete sleepers is to blame. They have also repeatedly reported freight trains breaking couplings, due to the rough track. CountryLink services did not resume until mid September 2010. V/Line passenger services did not return until the following year.
Read more about this topic: North East Railway Line
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