The Comprehensive 'Metro' Network of Melbourne

Melbourne is a city with a shockingly large suburban rail network, but where does it go, what does it connect, and how does it work with its highly interlined city centre loop? Find out in the latest Transit Explained episode!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[RMTransit]

Check out our latest video on Brisbane's amazing transit right here:

[Taitset]

Look mum, I'm on RMTransit!
..and in true Melbourne style I'm writing this while sitting on a train waiting at a flat junction. Good working with you Reece. 🙂

[goatfiddler]

As a Melburnian I will give you, a non-Aussie, a very solid 9 out of 10, to get 10 out of 10 would require a Victorian birth cert, on the pronunciation of all of the place/station names. As a Melburnian I'm used to cringing when non Aussies try and pronounce our place names. If memory serves, you also did a very good job with the Perth place names in your "Small city with a big rail network" vid. Good job Sir!!!!

[skypig]

You should absolutely cover Melbourne's tram network, its amazing to see the scope of it as someone from Adelaide, where our extensive tram network was systematically destroyed from the 50's to the 70's leaving just one line in operation

[williammckinney]

Thanks. I'd love a video on Melbourne's famous trams and why they survived when other Australian cities ditched theirs.

[kaiwhara]

Hello Reece (again), MTM Train Controller here. A good explainer of our system, which operationally can be very challenging when things (often) do go wrong. Within the CBD the track layout can be quite flexible to a point, but due to the sheer volume of traffic, that flexibility isn't always viable to exploit. We will lose a lot of that flexibility shortly once Caulfield gets straight railed, meaning we will be committed to the Frankston and Pakenham lines (in the latter case particularly VLine Gippsland trains) back at Richmond Junction. There's a lot of change coming in a very short space of time...

[BB-qpxo]

As a Melbournian, the trams are amazing and recommend a video dedication! So many of Australia’s cities regret terminating their tram lines decades ago. They are awesome.

[MrAronymous]

The new metro tunnel stations will truely be something to look forward to. The station designs are the best in the world in my opinion. Not only do they look very modern, but also grand and timeless. Iconic, as one might say. I really can't think of any other projects that just... look this amazing. It'll blow the Elizabeth Line out of the water.

[lachlanmillsteed]

As a Melburnian I am very pleased to see someone who doesn’t live here cover our network very well! On that note, there are a few things:
- Lilydale and Belgrave lines have significant single track (Mooroolbark to Lilydale, and Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave respectively).
- The Suburban Rail Loop will be built in several stages; the first being between Cheltenham and Box Hill. The SRL in its entirety will be completed in 2085.
- The Metro Tunnel is the first of three planned metro tunnels running through the CBD. The second is to run through the CBD into Fisherman’s Bend and meet with Newport. Personally I think that MM2 is more important than SRL to deliver public transport to Fisherman’s Bend.
- Reason why Melbourne has so many level crossings is because the terrain is very flat.

[flygonbreloom]

I admit, as a Melbournian, I had no idea just *how* absolutely confusing the network is from an outsider's perspective.

Great work boiling it down! I look forward to the V/Line explainer in future - especially since I've had a lifetime of being around V/Line dependent areas.

[destroyerplyz]

Iv lived in Melbourne for the last 30 years (I was born in QLD) and I gotta admit, your knowledge of my local transport system is impressive. It’s kinda weird hearing a Canadian talk about lines that I live on. Your pronunciation is very good. Good video mate.

[errinundra]

Hi, Reece. Love your channel & watch you on Nebula, but it lacks a chat facility. So, here I am.

As a Melburnian whose memory goes back that far, the City Loop was a solution to a problem that has since mostly gone away, leaving us with an odd legacy.

By the 60s the Melbourne rail system had been largely reduced to a Monday to Friday commuting service for office workers living in the eastern and south-eastern suburbs. The demand from there was much, much larger than it was for the western and northern suburbs. (The population centre of Melbourne was something like 15 kilometres to the south-east of the Central Business District.) At the time there were 10 tracks coming from Richmond station in the east (plus 2 from the north-east that terminated at Princes Bridge). To the west, the viaduct between Flinders Street and Southern Cross (then called Spencer Street) had only 4 tracks (since upgraded to six) due to the proximity of the Yarra River, which also constrained expansion of Flinders Street station itself.

Trains coming from the east and south-east needed to turn around at Flinders Street to set off for another bunch of commuters. Drivers had to walk the length of the train and each platform required the tracks from and to the east to split into incoming / outgoing tracks so trains going in opposite directions wouldn't be trying to use the same track. Trains arrived quicker than they could be turned around. The congestion had to be experienced to be believed. It was common for trains loaded with frustrated office workers to wait half an hour for a platform to become available.

The obvious solution was through-running, but the much lower demand from the west meant the trains would be under-utilised. More importantly, the trains were still needed for commuters in the east. They had to turn around without holding up the trains behind them. Hence the idea of the City Loop was born.

Melbourne has since had enormous growth across the entire western arc of the city. Through running is now a viable practice. The new Metro tunnel is a reflection of this new reality.

[cityjetproductions]

The Craigieburn Line has a flyover diverging at Kensington which allows it to run onto the Werribee Line tracks: while this is usually only used during disruptions some peak hour trains use this connection to avoid the City Loop and provide some extra capacity.

[johnlang]

Melbourne still suffers from a lack of frequency in some areas, as little as one train per hour. Add to that that the Ballarat and Geelong lines essentially double as suburban trains in the west to Melton and Wyndham Vale respectively, and we still have great problems.
You're partly right about the HCMT fleet, and the Comeng fleet is steadily being withdrawn and scrapped, but the final replacement will be by the Alstom "X'Trapolis 2.0" trains that are commencing construction at Ballarat this month.

[RipCityBassWorks]

I swear your explainer videos keep getting better and better. The maps on this one especially are top notch.

[acl__live]

Thanks for doing Melbourne would love you to do our tram network as that is a pretty crazy network as well(not to mention the largest in the world) it’s also worth noting that the pakenham line will be extended a few kms and will have a new station(pakenham east) and it’s already the longest on the network it takes almost 1 and a half hours to get into the cbd from pakenham on the metro and the electric grid used to go past pakenham through to Gippsland there is also a push to extend the Cranbourne line to Clyde where an old line that no longer exists used to travel through and is now serviced by buses

[newfelo]

We use the Alstom Xtrapolis trains here in Valparaíso, Chile and the trains are really great.
The differences between the ones in Melbourne and the ones that came to Chile are the internal layout, 3 cars for Melbourne and 2 cars for Valparaíso, and our trains here reach 120k/h in service since we have some stations that are further apart.

[JJRol.]

Thank you for doing Melbourne! I've grown up with this system and you got nothing wrong with the information, thanks!

[CommissionerManu]

Hell yeah! A Taitset and RMTransit crossover? I thought my birthday wasn’t for another few months?!

Seriously, it is really cool to see you guys collaborating though, and hopefully you get to do more together in the future!

[Jotrain]

Great video RMTransit! As an Aussie I really enjoy learning more about other Australian cities rail networks.
Would love it if you could do a video explaining Brisbane’s Network (including the direct connection to the airport) sometime.

Also in regards to Brisbanes “Metro” (BRT) system, I’m not really a fan of the project, especially the use of electric lithium ion battery buses. I would much prefer if it was converted as a Light rail system or at least use trolley buses as they have a much less greater environmental impact then the battery buses (if that’s what there going for).

Also fun fact. the government spent over $100K on a browser video game to try to promote the system, which is literally just a basic train dispatcher game but with those buses, I’d suggest you look it up.