South Gippsland railway line, Victoria.html

South Gippsland railway line, Victoria

Line details
Commenced	1888
Completed	1892
Closed	1993
Fate	Suburban Cranbourne line, South Gippsland Tourist Railway, Great Southern Rail Trail
Rail transport in Victoria
List of stations Closed railways

The South Gippsland railway line opened in 1892, branching from the Gippsland line at Dandenong, and extending to Port Albert. Much of it (the section up to Leongatha) remained in use until 1993 (the track up to Leongatha is still intact), however only a small portion is in use today, as the suburban Cranbourne line.

In addition to the Cranbourne line, the section from Nyora to Leongatha is used by the South Gippsland Tourist Railway, and Leongatha to Foster has been converted to the Great Southern Rail Trail.

1 History
- 1.1 Branch lines
- 1.2 Services
2 Current status
3 References
4 External links

History

The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company opened a line from Princes Bridge railway station to Punt Road (Richmond) and South Yarra in 1859 and extended to Dandenong in 1879. The South Gippsland railway line (also known as the Great Southern Railway) was opened from Dandenong to Cranbourne in 1888 and extended to Koo Wee Rup, Nyora and Loch in 1890, Korumburra and Leongatha in 1891 and Welshpool, Alberton and Port Albert in 1892. The section from Alberton to Port Albert was closed in the 1940s. A branch line was built from Alberton to Yarram and Woodside in 1921.

The line was well known for its sharp curves and spectacular scenery, and was also one of the last lines to offer a 'Mixed Passenger and Goods' service in Victoria. The section from Yarram to Woodside was closed in the early 1970s, with the section from Barry Beach Junction to Yarram closed in the 1980s when the mixed goods service closed. From this point until about 1992, the track beyond Agnes received minimal usage, although a short branch leading from Agnes to Barry Beach was used extensively for goods traffic to serve the oil platforms in Bass Strait.

The Barry Beach service ceased in 1992 and with it all usage of the train line beyond Leongatha. This section of track was then dismantled in 1994, requiring the strengthening of a bridge to allow the track machine onto the track to do the dismantling. The section from Nyora to Leongatha was transferred to the South Gippsland Railway in 1994 and trains have not operated beyond Cranbourne since 1998.^[1]