St Kilda railway line

The St Kilda railway line is a former railway line in Melbourne, Australia.

Operation

The line was opened by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company in 1857. It ran for 4.5 kilometres from the Melbourne (or City) Terminus (on the site of modern-day Flinders Street Station), crossing the Yarra River via the Sandridge Bridge, to branch off from the Port Melbourne line and finish at St Kilda, after stopping at three stations along the line.

For a short time early in the line's history, there was a short connection provided to the then Brighton line at Windsor, however this link was removed shortly after the direct link was provided to Bay Street from Richmond. The line was taken over by the Government of Victoria in 1878, to become part of Victorian Railways. The line was electrified in the 20th century.

Closure

B-class Melbourne tram on route 96

The line was originally to be closed in 1981, and replaced with buses as recommended in the Lonie Report. Plans were sufficiently advanced for Melbourne-Brighton Bus Lines to have taken delivery of six Volgren bodied Volvo B10M buses before it was decided to retain the rail service after much opposition.

Along with the Port Melbourne line, the conversion the line to light rail was first announced on 13 January 1983, by the Victorian state government. Cost estimates at the time was of around $6 million.

The line was officially closed on 31 July 1987, and reopened as part of the Melbourne tram network on 21 November 1987.

Melbourne tram route 96 now operates on the converted track. The section from Southbank Junction to St Kilda was converted to light rail, requiring the conversion from 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge used by the Melbourne rail network to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge tram track as well as reducing the overhead voltage from 1,500 V DC to 600 V DC required for the trams. The new tram route now continues down Fitzroy Street and the Esplanade to terminate at Acland Street.

Line guide

St Kilda railway line
City Loop 0 km Flinders Street City Loop Sandridge Bridge over the Yarra River exhAKRZo Queensbridge Street exhAKRZo Kings Way exhAKRZo Clarendon Street Tram route 109 Tram Stop Port Melbourne line (Tram route 109) West Gate Freeway City Road York Street 1.7 km South Melbourne Dorcas Street Bank Street Park Street Bridport Street 2.4 km Albert Park Albert Road Tram Stop 3.3 km Middle Park Tram Stop St Kilda – Windsor railway line 4.6 km St Kilda Tram route 96
Bold stations are termini.