Williamstown railway line

The Williamstown railway line is a 16.2 km commuter rail passenger train service in Melbourne, Australia, operating between Williamstown in the western suburbs to Flinders Street in the central business district. The Williamstown line runs across flat coastal land and therefore, has no significant earthworks. From the junction at Newport to the next station of North Williamstown, it runs beside the Newport Workshops, and from there through mainly old residential areas. The line used to continue a short distance to Williamstown Pier, around which there is heavy industrial areas including shipbuilding.

A Comeng train pulling into Williamstown station in 2014

Williamstown
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Current operator(s)	Metro Trains
Route
Start	Williamstown
Stops	12
End	Flinders Street
Distance travelled	16.2 km (10.1 mi)
Average journey time	39 minutes
Service frequency	13–23 minutes weekdays peak 20 minutes daytime Double frequency daytime on weekdays between Newport and Flinders Street in combination with Werribee line local services 30 minutes evenings 60 minutes early weekend mornings
Line(s) used	Williamstown City Loop
On-board services
Disabled access	Yes
Technical
Rolling stock	Comeng, Siemens, X'Trapolis 100
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner(s)	VicTrack
Route map 16.2 Williamstown Pier (closed) 15.5 Williamstown 1 14.4 Williamstown Beach 1 13.5 North Williamstown 1 12.5 Newport Workshops Warrnambool line to ● Werribee Western line to ● Adelaide Parklands 11.8 Newport ● 1 Newport–Sunshine line to Sunshine Western line to ● Southern Cross 10.5 Spotswood 1 West Gate Freeway Stony Creek 8.8 Yarraville 1 7.9 Seddon 1 Deniliquin line ●●●●●●●● via Middle Footscray North East and Western lines to ● Albury, Central (Sydney) & Adelaide Parklands 6.1 Footscray ●●●●●●●●■ 1 Maribyrnong River Melbourne Metro Tunnel under construction 4.7 South Kensington 1 Tocumwal line ●●●● via Kensington CityLink Moonee Ponds Creek Upfield line to ● Upfield 2.9 North Melbourne ●●●●●● 1 City Loop ●●●●●●●●●●●●●● via Flagstaff 1.2 Southern Cross ●●●●●●●●● 1 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●●●●●●●●●● 1 City Loop ●●●●●●●●●●●●●● via Parliament Hurstbridge line to ● Hurstbridge & ● Mernda Multiple lines ●●●●●●●●●● via Richmond

Williamstown (physical track)
Overview
Status	Operational from Southern Cross to Williamstown, closed beyond Williamstown
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Termini	Williamstown Southern Cross
Stations	11
Services	Werribee Williamstown
Operation
Commenced	1857 (1857)
Completed	1859 (1859)
Owner	VicTrack
Technical
Line length	15.0 km (9.3 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead

Infrastructure

The Williamstown Line shares tracks with the Werribee Line between Flinders Street and Newport (See Werribee Line Infrastructure). The line is double track throughout, except for Williamstown station, and provided with automatic block signalling.[1] There are no intermediate terminating facilities. Stabling facilities are provided within the grounds of the Newport workshops.

Services

Trains on the Williamstown Line stop all stations. There are slight variations to this service depending on the day of the week and the time of day. The Williamstown line is the only metropolitan line with regular services that never serves Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Parliament stations.

Local[2]

Trains stop all stations between Flinders Street and Williamstown and operate direct via Southern Cross during the daytime on weekdays. During the morning peak city-bound trains skip South Kensington. The same applies for outbound trains during the evening peak.

On weekends, Late Nights and as part of the Night Network[3], trains operate as stopping all station shuttles between Newport and Williamstown. Passengers travelling to and from the city will need to change at Newport. These shuttles are operated as 3 car train-sets. Inbound shuttles terminate on platform 1 at Newport and are stored in a siding on the city side of the station. The siding allow trains to reverse and form outbound Williamstown shuttle services departing from platform 2.

• Every 20 Minutes during the Day
• Every 60 Minutes Approximately (Night Network)

Station List

Legend - Stations

• ◼ 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 Patterns

• ● - All Trains Stop
• ◕ - Trains usually stop, except for city-bound trains in the morning peak and outbound trains in the evening peak

Williamstown Line
Station	Local
	Shuttle	Direct
◼ Flinders Street		●
◼ Southern Cross		●
◼ North Melbourne		●
South Kensington		◕
◼ Footscray		●
Seddon		●
◻ Yarraville		●
Spotswood		●
◼ Newport	●	●
North Williamstown	●	●
Williamstown Beach	●	●
◼ Williamstown	●	●

History and Future

Although it is now operated as a branch from the main Werribee/Geelong line at Newport, the line was originally built from the city, with the Geelong line being the branch. The line officially opened in January 1859, but the section between the vicinity of the Newport workshops and Williamstown Pier was in use by Geelong-line trains from October 1857 (see the history of the Werribee line for more information).

The line was electrified in August 1920, but little further change to the infrastructure took place until the section from Williamstown to Williamstown Pier closed in March 1987. Automatic Block signalling was provided in August 1997.

With the electrification of the Werribee line in 1983, many of the Williamstown Pier services became shuttle services from Newport instead of through services from Flinders Street.[4]

The level crossing at Ferguson Street, adjacent to North Williamstown Station, is currently earmarked for removal by the Level Crossing Removal Authority. The crossing is expected to be fully removed by 2022.[5]

There is a community proposal to replace the Williamstown Branch Railway line with a "Micro Public Transport Tunnel Loop System" which would obviate the need to replace the Ferguson St crossing. This is because the 3.6 m diameter tunnel loops using demand-activated 16 seater Autonmous Electric Vehicles (AEVs) would be constructed 10 to 20m underground and not interfere with ground level services/activities. The historic railway stations could be used as entry points for AEV lifts down to tunnels. An advantage would be that the trains-per-hour on the Werribee Railway line could be 8 per hour from Newport instead of the current 5 per hour.[6]

References

1. "VICSIG". vicsig.net. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
2. Victoria, Public Transport. "Williamstown Line". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
3. Victoria, Public Transport. "Night Network". Public Transport Victoria. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
4. "VICSIG". vicsig.net. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
5. "Ferguson Street, Williamstown | Level Crossing Removal Project". levelcrossings.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
6. "Williamstown Tunnel Loop Proposal". sites.google.com. Retrieved 11 March 2020.

External links

• Williamstown line timetable
• Official line map
• Network map
• Statistics and detailed schematic map at the VicSig enthusiast website