The Glen Waverley line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's sixth shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Glen Waverley station in the east, serving 20 stations including Burnley, Kooyong, East Malvern, and Jordanville. The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day (from approximately 5:15 am to around 12:00 am) with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. The line operates with headways of up to 7 minutes during peak hours and as long as 30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Glen Waverley line run with two three-car formations of X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.
Sections of the Glen Waverley line opened as early as 1890, with the line fully extended to Glen Waverley in 1930. The line was built to connect Melbourne with the rural towns of Kooyong, East Malvern, Mount Waverley, and Glen Waverley, amongst others.
Since the 2010s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Glen Waverley line, significant improvements and upgrades have been made. Different packages of works have upgraded the corridor to replace sleepers, upgrade signalling technology, introduce new rolling stock, and remove 2 out of the 6 remaining level crossings.
History
19th century A rail connection from Princes Bridge station to Punt Road (Richmond) was built by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company in 1859, with a branch line from Richmond to Burnley opening in 1861. In 1890, part of what would become the Glen Waverley line opened from Burnley to Darling. At the same time in 1890, a line known as the Outer Circle line opened, running from Oakleigh station to Darling, continuing to Burnley with the line continuing north to Riversdale and beyond. The Outer Circle closed in sections between 1893 and 1897, with the Burnley to Waverley Road section of the line closing back to Darling in 1895.
20th century Electrification of the line to Glen Waverley occurred in three stages between 1922 and 1930. In March 1922, the section from Burnley to Darling station was electrified, with the section to East Malvern being electrified in June 1929, and the final section to Glen Waverley being completed by May 1930. The electrification of the line allowed for the introduction of Swing Door electric multiple unit trains for the first time.S.E. Dornan and R.G. Henderson: (1979) The Electric Railways of Victoria
The introduction of power signalling on the line begun in 1919 with the section from Richmond to East Richmond, with the remainder of the line converted in stages from 1922 to 1964.Fisher, Peter (2007). Victorian Signalling: by Accident or Design?. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). In 1929, the Glen Waverley line began construction on an extension from Darling to East Malvern along the original track of the Outer Circle line. The Outer Circle line previously begun its curve south towards Waverley Road and Oakleigh. The Glen Waverley line continued east towards Holmesglen.
The 1950s saw the line undergo major upgrades, including the first centralised traffic control installation in Australia. Commissioned in September 1957 at a length of in length, the Victorian Railways installed it as a prototype for the North East standard project. On 6 February 1956, the Toorak Road level crossing between Kooyong and Tooronga stations was the first in Victoria to receive boom barriers, replacing hand operated gates.
New Comeng trains were introduced to the Melbourne railway system in 1981. Initially, along with the Glen Waverley line, they were only allowed to operate on the Alamein, Belgrave, Dandenong and Lilydale lines, due to the width of the trains (). Also in 1981, Glen Waverley line services commenced operations through the City Loop, after previously terminating at Flinders or Spencer Street stations. The commencement of operations involved the service stopping at three new stations—Parliament, Melbourne Central (then called Museum), and Flagstaff. The Loop follows La Trobe and Spring Streets along the northern and eastern edges of the Hoddle Grid. The Loop connects with Melbourne's two busiest stations, Flinders Street and Southern Cross, via the elevated Flinders Street Viaduct.
Many stations were rebuilt and level crossings removed along the corridor through the construction of road bridges during the 1970s to the late 1980s. These works coincided with the construction of the Monash Freeway which runs alongside the route for part of the journey.
21st century
In 2014, the Level Crossing Removal Project announced the removal of 2 level crossings on the Glen Waverley line, to be completed in 2016 and 2020. The removal of Burke Road, Glen Iris involved the lowering of the rail line and the reconstruction of Gardiner station. This was the first crossing to be removed by the project and was completed in 2016. The second removal involved raising the rail corridor above Toorak Road, Kooyong, with the crossing removed by early 2020. With the removal of 2 level crossings along the corridor, only 4 crossings now remain on the Glen Waverley line.
In 2021, the metropolitan timetable underwent a major rewrite, resulting in all Glen Waverley line trains operating via the City Loop alongside Alamein, Belgrave, and Lilydale services.
In 2023, data from Public Transport Victoria found that the Glen Waverley line was the most on-time train service on the network. Commuters on the Craigieburn line faced the highest train delays, with 10.6% of services arriving late between March 2022 and February 2023. The Pakenham line experienced the most cancellations in the city's south-east, at 3.1%, excluding lines with fewer services. On the positive side, the Glen Waverley line was the top performer, boasting 97.1% on-time arrivals during the same period.
Network and operations
Services Services on the Glen Waverley line operates from approximately 5:15 am to around 12:00 am daily. During peak hours, trains run every 7–10 minutes, while service during non-peak hours drops to 15–30 minutes throughout the entire route. On Friday nights and weekends, services run 24 hours a day, with 60 minute frequencies available outside of normal operating hours.
Train services on the 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.
Stopping patterns Legend – Station status ◼ 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 patternsSome services do not operate via the City Loop ● – All trains stop ◐ – Some services do not stop ▼ – Only outbound trains stop | – Trains pass and do not stop
Glen Waverley Services+StationZoneLocalAM ExpressPM Express◼ 1 ● ● ● ◼ ▼ ▼ ◼ ▼ ▼ ◼ ▼ ▼ ◼ ▼ ▼ ◼ ● ● ● ◐ ◼ ● ● ● ● ◻ ● ● ● ● ◼ 1/2 ● ● ◼ ● ● ◻ ● ● ● 2 ● ● ◼ ● ● ◻ ● ● ● ◼ ● ◐ ●
Operators The Glen Waverley line has had a total of 6 operators since its opening in 1888. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from its first service in 1888 until the 1999 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line."Melbourne's Rail Network to be Split" Railway Digest November 1997 page 12 These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation and Hillside Trains have a combined operational length of 111 years. Hillside Trains was privatised in August 1999 and later rebranded Connex Melbourne. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. Both private operators have had a combined operational period of years. +Past and present operators of the Glen Waverley line:OperatorAssumed operationsCeased operationsLength of operationsVictorian Railways1888198395 yearsMetropolitan Transit Authority198319896 yearsPublic Transport Corporation198919989 yearsHillside Trains (government operator)199819991 yearsConnex Melbourne1999200910 yearsMetro Trains Melbourne2009incumbent years (ongoing)
Route
The Glen Waverley line forms a mostly curved route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus in Glen Waverley. The route is long and is predominantly doubled tracked. Between Flinders Street station and Richmond, the track is widened to 12 tracks, narrowing to 4 tracks between Richmond and Burnley before again narrowing to 2 tracks between Burnley and Glen Waverley. After departing from its terminus at Flinders Street, the Glen Waverley line traverses both flat and hilly country with few curves and fairly minimal earthworks for most of the line. The journey from Holmesglen to the terminus involves some of the steepest grades in Melbourne (1 in 30). Sections of the line have been elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings. However, a small number of level crossings are still present with no current plans to remove them.
The line follows the same alignment as the Alamein, Belgrave, and Lilydale lines with the four services splitting onto different routes at Burnley. The Glen Waverley line goes on its south eastern alignment, whereas the Alamein, Belgrave, and Lilydale lines take an eastern alignment towards their final destinations. The rail line goes through built-up suburbs towards its terminus in Glen Waverley.
Stations The line serves 20 stations across of track. The stations are a mix of elevated, lowered, underground, and ground level designs. Underground stations are present only in the City Loop, with the majority of the lowered stations being constructed as part of the level crossing removals. StationAccessibilityOpenedTerrainTrain connectionsOther connectionsFlinders StreetYes—step free access1854Lowered Southern Cross1859Ground level Flagstaff1985UndergroundMelbourne Central1981 Parliament1983RichmondNo—steep ramp1859Elevated East RichmondYes—step free access1860Ground levelBurnleyNo—steep ramp1880HeyingtonNo—stairs required1890KooyongYes—step free accessToorongaGardinerLoweredGlen IrisNo—steep rampGround levelDarlingYes—step free accessEast MalvernNo—steep ramp1929Holmesglen1930JordanvilleMount WaverleySyndalGlen Waverley Station historiesStationOpenedClosedAge Notes Formerly Museum Formerly Batman's Hill Formerly Spencer Street Formerly Melbourne Terminus Punt Road Replaced by Swan Street (200m further along line) Formerly Swan Street Formerly Church Street Formerly Burnley Street - - - Built 24 March 1890 but never opened Formerly Eastmalvern
Infrastructure
Rolling stock The Glen Waverley line uses X'Trapolis 100 electric multiple unit (EMU) trains operating in a two three-car configuration, with three doors per side on each carriage, and can accommodate up to 432 seated passengers in each six-car configuration. The trains were originally built between 2002 and 2004 as well as between 2009 and 2020 with a total of 212 three-car sets constructed. The trains are shared with 7 other metropolitan train lines and have been in service since 2003. Comeng trains are approved for revenue service on the line, but they don't run due to the abundance of X'trapolis trains.