Melbourne's Underground City Loop - Explained!

The underground City Loop is at the centre of Melbourne's busy suburban railway system, currently operated by Metro Trains Melbourne. It's quite an unusual design, being made up of four completely independent single track tunnels, some of which change direction half way through the day. This video explains the physical layout of the Loop, the reason for the direction change, and some of the other confusing aspects of this part of the network. The Melbourne suburban network is 1600mm/5'3" Broad Gauge, and electrified at 1500v DC.

#melbourne #transport #transit #railways #trains #city

[krdcountrytv]

Great work. I’ve lived in Melbourne for 10 years and still find the loop confusing. But the stations have retained their 80s charm and the wide passageways showed some foresight by the designers.

[rninness]

“This train will no longer be running via the city loop and will go direct to Flinders street. I repeat. . . “ *collective commuter groan”

[piploo]

As a melbournian, im used to the chaos and even love it! But it is very confusing if youre not prepared and ive helped many people get to where they were going when they looked a bit lost in the CBD. Fantastic video!!

[garethtudor]

I remember the before times, when peering through the hoardings around the Loop works was a part of every trip into the city.
When the Loop opened, it was as though a mystic portal had materialised, allowing easier access to places that teenaged me would have otherwise had to walk to.
Now, the new works are rekindling the anticipation of discovery

[jamesburleigh]

Ahh the memories. My cousins were a railway family, Uncle Ken being an architect-designer for VR. Subsequently when I used to head to Melbourne for school holidays at my cousins in Eltham, we used to travel the network into the city regularly by ourselves, so long as we were back before streetlights came on.
I remember playing in 'The Loop' when it was being built. My cousins were very familiar with it and the network as a whole.
We ran freely, most of the staff knew my cousins and so long as we used common sense we had the run on the whole place.
Jeez the memories...the adventure...it was really something for a country kid l Iike me.

[Saint-Ocean]

Lived in Melbourne for the last 27 years and the city loop has always perplexed me with how strange it ran thank you for the fantastic explanation for how this all runs

[adamiotime]

Infrastructure Victoria has recently recommended reconfiguring the City Loop to create bi-directional thru-routes between Craigieburn to Frankston, and Upfield to Glen Waverley. All that is required is two new little tunnel segments between North Melbourne and Flagstaff, and Richmond and Parliament. This will solve soooo many of the Loop's problems! Maybe you can cover this proposal in a Part 2 video?

[MrBCorp]

I used to catch trains in Melbourne all the time until maybe 5 years ago, and somehow I just understood it. The only real confusion was the time of day the trains would change direction.
Actually thinking about it, the annoying nuances of not being able to get to certain stations (thinking of Flagstaff here) or having to go certain directions to get to certain stations (going the wrong way around the loop), probably influenced how people move about the CBD

[stephenblomfield]

I live in Sydney but as I write this I'm in Melbourne on a short holiday. Been here plenty of times before and I am still utterly confused about the city loop and this video while interesting still leaves me scratching my head lol

[Phil-T]

Good explanation - it's taken me over 15 years of visits to Melbourne to figure out the city loop - wonder what'll use the Caulfield part of the loop once the metro tunnel is up and running.

One of my first visits I remember not only getting confused because the Clifton Hill group train I was on (around midday) not only didn't go past Flinders St, but unloaded all the passengers on what was platform 14, which at the time I didn't even know existed.

[joelieastell]

I remember taking a while to figure it out when I first moved to Melbourne but I finally figured it all out especially with help from the PTV app. So, I was ready to die on the hill that the trains were the best ever. Then you reminded me of all the little tricks and traps I had just learned to live with. I never really got confused by the loop but I definitely know about sticking my head out of the train to check if I’m still going where I want to go haha and running drunk from Melb. Central to Flinders. So much so that I had a PB that I would try to beat. Still better than Brisbane.

[michaelhart]

I've lived in Melbourne all my life, used to catch the train to work everyday pre-covid and I have learnt so much from your video. Thank you very, very, very much. Your video is so clear and you are well spoken. Keep up the great work mate!

[bnetransport]

A good, dispassionate description of the ‘loop’ at its drawbacks. I recall moving from Sydney to Melbourne in 1992 and being completely flummoxed by the weirdness of the loop as you have put so well.

[jswatts]

Thanks, very informative. I'm glad I'm not the only one to get out at Flinders Street to read the display to see where the train goes next!

[UserUCKANAODSlYguEhbCkUdlMQ]

There is a great solution to Melbournes Loop problem and it can be found in Liverpool, UK of all places. they have a 'Wirral Loop'. All trains stop at James Street station and then proceed around a clockwise loop. As soon as the train gets to the next station, Moorfields (the first one on the loop), the train then changes it's destination to wherever it is going next and does the normal announcement of 'this train is for [destination] calling at [stations]' so anyone onboard already doesn't have to worry as their station will be one of the few upcoming stations and anyone starting their journey at Moorfields never knows where the train came from but knows which suburb it is going out to.

[metalsonic]

8:43 the city circle service is run in situations where certain lines cannot run through the city loop for whatever reason, it takes the load from those passengers.

For example, there are times when Pakenham/Cranbourne trains only go as close to the city as Caulfield. Passengers have to change for a Frankston Line train which doesn't go via the loop and so when they reach Flinders Street they may want to go to the loop stations. The city circle service runs in this circumstance to take that load.

[gregbowen]

Excellent video, very well explained! I've lived in Melbourne since 1978 and love our system of trains and trams...buses, bruh...you have told us a story we thought we knew but didn't!

[ianhelps]

An interesting film. I didn't know Melbourne had such an extensive suburban rail network.
In England, Liverpool has an underground loop line, though a bit simpler. Trains coming from Birkenhead through the Mersey tunnel arrive at St. James Street, then a single line runs through Moorfields (near the former Liverpool Exchange station), Lime Street, Liverpool Central, then back to St James Street. There is normally unidirectional running. There is also another underground line connecting Moorfields with Liverpool Central. The loop line was opened in 1977.

[dampaul]

Cool vid, nice work.
Oh geez, the number of times I've stuck my head out of the train door at Flinders St to double, triple, and quadruple check make sure the train in going to where I want. Although, it's easier now being able to use apps to find out what train you need to be on.

[SineNmine]

7:30 It's worth noting that you can easily avoid having to travel the wrong way around the loop by a short walk or tram ride to Parliment station from Flinders.

It's not necessarily any quicker but its nice to have options. Particularly on a hot day I'd rather walk for ten minutes than sit on a train for the same amount of time if the destination is the same.

You're better off boarding at Flinders if you want a seat though, at least that was the case when i used to catch the train.