History
The Pakenham line began as part of the main line to Gippsland, but at the time the route through the suburbs has not been determined, so the first portion to open was the section between Oakleigh and Bunyip (Gippsland) in October 1877. Oakleigh was connected to the city at South Yarra in April 1879.
The section from South Yarra to Hawksburn was duplicated from opening, and duplication was extended to Caulfield in 1881, Oakleigh in 1883, and Dandenong in 1891.
In 1915 the line from South Yarra to Caulfield was quadrupled, and it was possibly at the same time that this section of the line was lowered into a cutting to eliminate numerous level crossings. Power signalling was provided between Richmond and Hawksburn at the same time, then on to Caulfield in 1921.
Electrification of the line to Dandenong occurred in two stages in 1922. Power signalling was extended to Carnegie in 1933 and Oakleigh in 1940.
In 1954 the line beyond Dandenong was electrified mainly because of the expected briquette traffic from the brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley, and over the next two years most of the line between Dandenong and Pakenham was duplicated and provided with power signalling, although Narre Warren to Berwick was not done until 1962.
Oakleigh to Dandenong was converted to power signalling in stages from 1970 to 1972.
In 1975, suburban services were extended beyond Dandenong to Pakenham, which until then had only been served by the passenger trains connecting Gippsland to Melbourne.
In 2002, General Motors station closed and all trains ran express between Hallam and Dandenong.
On 1 March 2007, with the abolition of Zone 3, Pakenham was re-zoned to Zone 2 in the Melbourne Metropolitan rail system. This brought the cost of train fares down, improving accessibility to the public.
Read more about this topic: Pakenham Railway Line
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