Albion–Jacana railway line

The Albion–Jacana line is a railway line in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Linking Albion on the Sunbury line to Jacana on the Craigieburn line, it is primarily used by freight trains and has no overhead wires, passenger stations or platforms.

Albion–Jacana
Overview
StationsNone
Service
TypeFreight and limited passenger.[1][2][3]
SystemAustralian Rail Track Corporation
History
Opened1929
Technical
Number of tracksDouble track, broad and standard gauge
Route map
km
Up arrow
Albury & North East SG line to Southern Cross &
Sunbury, Bendigo, Echuca & Swan Hill lines to Flinders Street
14.9
 Albion
Right arrow
Sunbury, Bendigo, Echuca & Swan Hill lines
to Sunbury
14.9
Albion Loop
15.4
Stony Creek
16.7
McIntyre Road
17.3
 McIntyre Sidings | McIntyre Loop
18.8
Maribyrnong River Viaduct
over Maribyrnong River
18.8
Keilor Park Drive
19.8
 Albistore Siding
(demolished)
21.5
Calder Freeway
 Keilor East
(proposed)
Right arrow
Melbourne Airport line
to Melbourne Airport
(proposed)
23.3
 Tullamarine Loop
24.7
Tullamarine Freeway
25.3
Moonee Ponds Creek
27.6
Pascoe Vale Road
Left arrow
Craigieburn, Seymour & Shepparton lines
via Essendon
27.7
 Jacana
27.8
Western Ring Road
27.8
Jacana Loop
28.9
Camp Road
Down arrow
Albury & North East SG line to Albury &
Craigieburn, Seymour & Shepparton lines to Craigieburn
km
broad gauge
standard gauge
dual gauge

History

The line was opened on 1 July 1929 to allow freight trains to avoid the steeper grades and busy suburban traffic on the Broadmeadows line via Essendon.[4] Initially consisting of two broad gauge tracks, in 1962 the track on the eastern side was converted to standard gauge as part of the Melbourne to Sydney gauge standardisation project.

Main article: Melbourne Airport rail link

The Albion–Jacana railway line is a major section of the present preferred option for the proposed rail link to Melbourne Airport running via Sunshine station to the Melbourne central business district. The extra land required to build the link was confirmed as being reserved by the Victoria State Government in 2002.[5]

In March 2013, the State Government confirmed that the Albion–Jacana corridor would be part of the proposed Melbourne Airport rail link.[6]

Description

Built as a double track railway, two major steel viaducts were required to cross the Maribyrnong River and Moonee Ponds Creek valleys. The Maribyrnong River Viaduct is 54.5 metres (178.8 ft) above the riverbed at its highest point and is the second tallest bridge in Victoria[7] after the West Gate Bridge.

Today the track on the eastern side is standard gauge and part of the North East standard gauge line with two crossing loops.[8] The parallel broad gauge also has two crossing loops, each located before rejoining the main lines, and has a 20 km/h speed limit due to the poor track condition.[9]

V/Line Albury and NSW TrainLink XPT passenger services operate on the standard gauge line.[10][11][12]

Stations
Station histories
Station Opened[13][14] Closed[13][14] Age Notes[13][14]
Albion5 January 1860 || 1 January 1861 || data-sort-value=362 | 11 months
  • 1st site
  • Was originally Albion and Darlington
24 March 1891 || 24 November 1919 || data-sort-value=10,471 | 28 years
  • 1st site
  • Reopened as Albion
24 November 1919 || || data-sort-value=37,956 | 103 years
  • 2nd site
McIntyre Sidings12 May 1964 || || data-sort-value=21,715 | 59 years
  • Formerly Lysaght's Siding
Albistore Siding3 February 1943 || 27 June 1972 || data-sort-value=10,737 | 29 years
  • Formerly Albstore Siding
Jacana15 February 1959 || || data-sort-value=23,628 | 64 years

References
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "VR History". victorianrailways.net. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  5. "Melbourne Airport Rail Link Not Viable Now" (Press release). Minister for Transport. 18 January 2002. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  6. "Route chosen for Melbourne airport link". Perth Now. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  7. "The Railway Top 20!" (PDF). History Victoria. historyvictoria.org.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  8. "ARTC Network in Victoria" (PDF). ARTC – Access Seeker Network Configuration and Description. artc.com.au. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  9. "VICSIG – Infrastructure – Line Data Albion – Broadmeadows line". vicsig.net. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  10. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. Anderson, Rick (2010). Stopping All Stations. Clunes, Victoria: Full Parallel Productions. ISBN 978-0646543635. OCLC 671303814.
  14. [Vicsig.net "VICSIG"]. vicsig.net. Retrieved 12 July 2023. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
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