Kulwin railway line

The Kulwin railway line is located in north-western Victoria, Australia. It junctions from the Robinvale line at Korong Vale and only sees usage by freight trains.

Kulwin
Wycheproof station with a Steamrail Victoria train in the background
Overview
Type	Branch
System	Pacific National, El Zorro
Status	Operational as a freight only line to Sea Lake, closed beyond Sea Lake
Connecting lines	Robinvale railway line
Stations	5
Services	Grain to Wycheproof, Sea Lake
Operation
Opened	1883
Completed	1920
Closed	2010 (Sea Lake to Kulwin)[1]
Technical
Line length	199.8 km (124.1 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	Broad
Route map Robinvale line at Korong Vale Wychitella Buckrabanyule Barakee Charlton Teddywaddy Glenloth Fairview Wycheproof Dumosa Nullawill Warne Culgoa Berriwillock Boigbeat Sea Lake Ninda Nyarrin Nandaly Pier Millan Mittyack Leitpar Kulwin

History

Melbourne-Kulwin rail ticket 1980

The line was opened from Korong Vale to Wycheproof in 1883, and extended to Sea Lake in 1893, to Nandaly in 1914, Mittyack in 1919, and Kulwin in 1920.[2] Access to the line was originally from the Bendigo line via Bridgewater, until the opening of the Dunolly to Inglewood route to the Mildura line in 1888.

The last regular passenger service on the line ran from Bendigo to Sea Lake on 7 May 1977 and was operated by a DERM.[3] In April 2008 it was announced that the Korong Vale – Charlton section of the line would be upgraded as part of the Victorian core grain network, in a $23.7 million package with 6 other lines.[4]

In February 2010, baulks were placed across the line just north of Sea Lake due to the deteriorating condition of the track.[5] As majority of grain trains only go as far as Sea Lake, this made practical sense. Furthermore, the segment between Sea Lake and Kulwin was closed due to sand drifts and sand slides in 2006 and 2008 respectively.[6]

References

1. "VICSIG". vicsig.net. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
2. Sid Brown (March 1990). "Tracks Across the State". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 71–76.
3. Chris Banger (March 1997). "Rail Passenger Service Withdrawals Since 1960". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 77–82.
4. "$43m to upgrade rail freight lines". The Age. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
5. http://www.vicsig.net/infrastructure/line/Kulwin
6. http://www.vicsig.net/infrastructure/line/Kulwin