Geelong–Ballarat railway line

Now privately occupied Bannockburn station

After the railway from Melbourne to Geelong was opened in 1857,[2] agitation soon started in Ballarat for a railway link to serve the rapidly growing gold mining area.[3]

The prospectus for the £1,000,000 "Geelong, Ballaarat and North Western Railway Company" (the different spelling "Ballaarat" persisted until the early 1990s) was advertised in January 1854[4] with the Francis Bell as the engineer. Bell surveyed and designed the line, and lithographed plans were made available with the prospectus. Because private railway companies were unable to raise the necessary capital in London, the Victorian colonial government took over the construction of trunk railway lines to Ballarat and Bendigo. Bell's plans were used as the basis for the current railway alignment by the engineer-in-chief of the Victorian Railways, George Darbyshire.

Construction work on the Geelong – Ballarat railway began in 1858 under the supervision of the Victorian Railways engineer Robert Watson, and the official opening occurred on 10 April 1862. The line was built to a high standard, with double track provided throughout, bluestone station buildings at all of the initial stations, a number of bluestone bridges for roads that crossed the line, and the substantial 1,450-foot (440 m) Moorabool Viaduct over the river of the same name.[2] The line remained the only rail route from Ballarat to Melbourne until 1889, when the Melbourne to Ballarat line opened.

The Geelong to Ballarat line connected with the Geelong railway at North Geelong station, and when the 'direct line' from Ballarat to Melbourne was opened, it branched off at Warrenheip station. Single-tracking of the Geelong to Ballarat line commenced in 1892, but the majority remained double-tracked until 1934, when the 53-kilometre section from Bannockburn to Warrenheip was singled.[5] In 1913 the Gheringhap–Maroona line was opened, junctioning with the line at Gheringhap.[6]

In 1978, passenger services on the line were withdrawn when the 153hp Walker railmotor used to operate them fell into disrepair, and a replacement bus service was introduced.[7] Passenger trains from Ballarat and beyond continued to use the Geelong–Ballarat line as an alternate route to Melbourne until the 1990s, but did not stop at any stations along the line.

In 1995, the track between North Geelong and Gheringhap was converted to dual gauge as part of the gauge standardisation of the Melbourne–Adelaide railway.[5] Also at that time, the seven-kilometre section of double track from Ballarat to Warrenheip was converted to two parallel and independent lines, one running to Geelong and one to Melbourne, with the junction at Warrenheip being abolished.[8] In 2008 track upgrading work commenced on the line as part of the rail freight improvements to the Mildura line.[9] Improvements included installing gauge-convertible sleepers, the dual-gauging of level crossings, and drainage and ballast renewal.[9] Upgrade work was completed in 2009.[9]

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Geelong-Ballarat railway, a special train ran from Geelong to Ballarat and return on Tuesday 10 April 2012,[10] and further celebrations were held during the following weekend, on the 14 & 15 April.

As part of its election policy, the state Coalition government, elected in November 2010, instituted a study into reintroducing passenger services on the line.[11] The so-called "Rail Revival Study", obtained by the Herald Sun in mid-2013 using Freedom of Information laws, concluded that returning rail passenger services to the line was not viable due to the high cost.[12] Despite a push in November 2013 to re-open these railway sections for passenger traffic, nothing ended up happening, with the line remaining freight-only.[13]

Crossing plains near Bannockburn

Bluestone road overbridge near Lethbridge

Meredith station and crossing loop

El Zorro-operated grain train near Meredith

Running through forest near Lal Lal

V/Line VLocity train at the junction with the Melbourne-Ballarat line at Warrenheip station

The line uses centralised traffic control on the 13.5 km dual gauge section between North Geelong and Gheringhap, and Train Order Working from there.[14] Unattended crossing loops exist at Gheringhap and Warrenheip. Meredith can be used to cross trains if the signal box is attended. Lal Lal has a crossing loop that is not used.

Geelong – Ballarat railway
Melbourne-Geelong railway towards Geelong 69.950 km North Geelong Junction 70.900 km Fyansford branch line Melbourne-Geelong railway towards Melbourne 71.142 km North Geelong C Western standard gauge towards Melbourne 77.483 km Moorabool 78.820 km Moorabool Viaduct Western standard gauge towards Adelaide 83.454 km Gheringhap 89.702 km Bannockburn 97.100 km Lethbridge Block Point 99.262 km Lethbridge 101 km RMSP 13 105.390 km Medina 107.401 km RMSP 52 110.619 km RMSP 12 114.198 km Meredith 117.055 km RMSP 14 122.959 km Elaine 134.758 km Lal Lal 137.440 km Lal Lal Block Point 140.268 km Yendon 144.810 km Navigator Melbourne-Ballarat railway towards Melbourne 148.800 km Warrenheip 154.694 km Ballarat East 155.386 km Ballarat Serviceton railway west & Mildura railway north

The line received an Engineering Heritage Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.[15]

• The Lal Lal Racecourse Branch, Gavan Duffy, C.D. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, August 1961

Media related to Geelong–Ballarat railway line at Wikimedia Commons

• Railpage _ Gheringhap Loop Sightings Database
• Gheringhap Loop – Lineside overview and Photographs
• Railpage – Gheringhap Loop Railcam Project
• Vicsig.net – Yelta line diagram
• Rail Geelong: Photos of infrastructure along the line