Mernda line

Mernda
Mernda station, the terminus of the Mernda line, December 2021
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
System	Melbourne railway network
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Predecessor	Reservoir (1888–1889) Whittlesea (1889–1959) Reservoir ^ (1921–1929) Thomastown ^ (1929–1959) Lalor ^ (1959–1964) Epping ^ (1964–2012) South Morang ^ (2012–2018) ^ were electric services
First service	8 October 1888; 135 years ago (1888-10-08)
Current operator(s)	Metro Trains
Former operator(s)	Victorian Railways (VR) (1888–1974) VR as VicRail (1974–1983) MTA (The Met) (1983–1989) PTC (The Met) (1989–1998) Hillside Trains (1998–2000) Connex Melbourne (2000–2009)
Route
Termini	Flinders Street Mernda
Stops	29 (including City Loop stations)
Distance travelled	33.1 km (20.6 mi)
Average journey time	1 hour 2 minutes (via City Loop)
Service frequency	3–20 minutes weekdays peak 20 minutes weekdays off-peak 20 minutes weekend daytime 30 minutes nights 60 minutes early weekend mornings Double frequency between Flinders Street and Clifton Hill in combination with Hurstbridge line Some services run from Flinders Street to either Reservoir, Epping or South Morang
Line(s) used	Whittlesea
Technical
Rolling stock	X'Trapolis 100
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner(s)	VicTrack
Route map Legend h:mm km zone 0:03 1.2 Southern Cross ●●●●●●● 1 0:05 1.3 Flagstaff ●●● 0:07 1.9 Melbourne Central 0:09 3.0 Parliament ●●●●●●● 0:00 0.0 Flinders Street ●●●●●●●●●● 0:12 1.7 Jolimont ■■ 0:13 2.4 West Richmond 0:15 2.9 North Richmond ■■ 0:16 3.6 Collingwood 0:18 4.2 Victoria Park 0:21 5.4 Clifton Hill ● 0:23 6.1 Rushall 0:25 6.8 Merri ■■ 0:26 7.7 Northcote ■■ 0:28 8.4 Croxton ■■ 0:30 9.4 Thornbury ■■ 0:32 10.5 Bell 1 0:33 11.2 Preston 1/2 0:35 12.4 Regent 0:37 13.7 Reservoir 1/2 0:39 14.7 Ruthven 2 0:41 16.3 Keon Park 0:44 17.9 Thomastown 0:46 19.6 Lalor 0:49 21.6 Epping 0:53 24.7 South Morang 0:56 26.7 Middle Gorge 0:59 29.5 Hawkstowe 1:02 36.8 Mernda 2 h:mm km zone This diagram: view talk edit

The Mernda line is a commuter railway line on the Melbourne metropolitan railway network serving the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, the line is coloured red and is one of the two lines that constitute the Clifton Hill group. It is the city's eighth longest metropolitan railway line at 33.1 kilometres (20.6 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Mernda station in the north, serving 29 stations via Clifton Hill, Reservoir, Epping, and South Morang.^[1]

The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day (from approximately 5:00 am to around 12:00 am) with 24-hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hour, headways of up to 7.5 minutes are operated with services every 10–30 minutes during off-peak hours.^[2] Trains on the Mernda line run with two three-car formations of X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.^[3]

Services on the line began in 1889 when the section between North Fitzroy (on the now-closed Inner Circle line) and Reservoir was opened, which was extended to Whittlesea in the same year. The line was closed beyond Lalor in November 1959, while the remainder of the line was electrified. The closed section has since been gradually reconstructed and reopened; to Epping in 1964, South Morang in April 2012, and to Mernda in August 2018.

Since the 2010s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Mernda line, significant improvements and upgrades have been made. Two major upgrades of the corridor have taken place, with the line from Epping extended to South Morang in April 2012, duplicated between Keon Park and Epping, and extended again to Mernda in August 2018.^[4][5] Other works have included replacing sleepers, upgrading signalling technology, the introduction of new rolling stock, the removal of level crossings, and station accessibility upgrades.^[6]