The Gippsland railway line (formerly known as the Orbost railway line) is a railway line serving the
Latrobe Valley
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nestle ...
and
Gippsland
Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...
regions of
Victoria,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. It runs east from the state capital
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
through
Warragul
Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...
,
Moe,
Morwell,
Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
,
Sale and terminating at
Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...
.
Prior to its dismantling in 1994, the line extended to
Orbost. The dismantled section now comprises the
East Gippsland Rail Trail, a shared bicycle, walking, and horseriding track.
Services
Metro Trains Melbourne
Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the operator and brand name of train services on the electrified metropolitan rail network serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the largest urban rail network in Au ...
operates suburban passenger services along the inner section of the line as the
Pakenham line, while
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
services operate as the
Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
and the
Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...
lines. Freight services also use the line, operated by
Qube Holdings.
History

Rail lines were built to Gippsland in the 1870s and initially played a crucial role in developing agricultural industries in Gippsland as well as tourism. It also played a pivotal role in the development of coal mining in the
Latrobe Valley
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nestle ...
in the 1920s. At its peak, the railway travelled as far east as
Orbost, and there are still frequent services to many of the towns. Some of the disused rail lines have been turned into
tourist railways and/or
rail trail
A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...
s.
The
Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company opened a line from
Princes Bridge railway station to
Punt Road (Richmond) and
South Yarra
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populati ...
and
Prahran
Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...
in 1859, and to
Windsor in 1860, connecting with the
St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company line. This line was extended to
Dandenong,
Pakenham,
Warragul
Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...
,
Moe,
Morwell,
Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
,
Sale,
Stratford and
Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...
between 1877 and 1879. It was extended to
Orbost in 1916.
The railway to Orbost and operated until 1987, principally carrying timber and farming produce. In the early days of the railway's operation, dedicated passenger trains ran, but they had ceased by the 1930s. The track infrastructure was dismantled in 1994. The line traversed a mixture of farmland, hills and heavily forested country, and included numerous bridges, including the Stoney Creek
trestle bridge
A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames usually carrying a railroad line. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a st ...
, the largest of its kind in Victoria.
In 1954, the line from Dandenong to Traralgon was electrified, mainly because of the expected
briquette
A briquette (; also spelled briquet) is a compressed block of coal dust or other combustible biomass material (e.g. charcoal, sawdust, wood chips, peat, or paper) used for fuel and kindling to start a combustion, fire. The term is a diminutive der ...
traffic from the
brown coal
Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...
mines in the
Latrobe Valley
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nestle ...
. Over the next two years most of the line between Dandenong and Pakenham was duplicated and provided with power signalling, although the
Narre Warren to Berwick section was not done until 1962. Over time, the rail transport of briquettes petered out as industry converted to natural gas and homes were converted to other forms of heating.
Electrification was cut back to Warragul in 1987, with suburban-style trains providing the services from there to Melbourne. Electrification was further cut back to Bunyip in 1998, before ceasing entirely beyond Pakenham in 2001. The line east of Sale was closed in 1994, but was reopened to Bairnsdale in 2004. In 2005, the
Regional Fast Rail project
The Regional Fast Rail project (or RFR project) was a rail transport project undertaken by the Government of Victoria (Australia), State Government of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, between 2000 and 2006 aimed at improving rail servi ...
upgraded one of the two lines between
Pakenham and
Traralgon
Traralgon ( , ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the ...
. This project also included removing the remaining electrification infrastructure from Pakenham East Depot to Traralgon, with the exception of a heritage-listed length in Bunyip.
Branch lines

The
Noojee railway line was built north from Warragul in stages from the 1890s, reaching
Noojee in 1919. It was closed in stages from 1954 to 1958.
In 1910, the
Walhalla railway line was completed through mountainous country from Moe to
Erica
Erica or ERICA may refer to:
* Erica (given name)
* Erica (plant), ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus
* Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America
* Erica (video game), ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game
* Erica (spider), ' ...
and
Walhalla. The Platina to Walhalla section closed in 1944, Erica to Platina in 1952, and Moe to Erica in 1954. The northernmost section, between Thomson and Walhalla stations, has been reopened as a tourist railway by the
Walhalla Goldfields Railway, and provides regularly scheduled trains.
The
Thorpdale railway line was also opened from Moe to
Thorpdale in 1888, it was closed in 1958.
The
Yallourn branch was opened from Hernes Oak (between Moe and Morwell) to
Yallourn
Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria, Australia built between 1921 and 1961 to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV), who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station complex. However, expansion of th ...
in 1922 to serve the
adjacent power station development. It was replaced by a line from Moe to Yallourn in 1953 because its route was required for brown coal mining,
but the
new line closed in 1987, having been disused since the late 1970s.
The
Mirboo North branch line was opened in stages from Morwell to
Mirboo North between 1885 and 1886; however, it was closed in 1974.
The route of the line was partly dug up as part of the
Hazelwood open cut mine. The Maryvale paper siding also connects to the main line at Morwell and remains open today for regular freight traffic.
The
loop line via Maffra was opened from Traralgon to
Heyfield
Heyfield is a town in Victoria, Australia, with a population of 1,993. It is east of Melbourne, in the Shire of Wellington local government area. Located on the Thomson River, Heyfield is a gateway to the Victorian High Country.
History
In 1 ...
,
Maffra
Maffra is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agricu ...
and Stratford in 1887, which was closed in stages between 1987 and 1993. A branch line was opened from Maffra to
Briagolong in 1889 and closed in 1952.
There used to be several timber tramways running to a number of the stations between
Pakenham and
Yarragon.
Significance
The expansion of the railway in the late 1870s helped to develop Gippsland. It enabled milk from western Gippsland to be sold fresh into Melbourne while the dairy industry of East Gippsland provided cheese and butter. It also enabled development of west Gippsland's market gardening and orcharding industry for sale in Melbourne markets.
It also encouraged the development of a tourism industry notably at
Lakes Entrance. It did, however, end coastal shipping traffic and the use of Sale and Bairnsdale as ports.
In the 1920s, the Gippsland railway played an important role in developing the mining of lignite coal and the development of the Latrobe Valley for power generation primarily serving Melbourne and Victoria. This saw the development of industry in towns such as Yallourn, Morwell, Traralgon, Moe, Warragul and
Drouin.
The development of the Gippsland Railway helped fuel the Melbourne land boom in the 1870s. The original departure point for the railway was
Oakleigh with the line connecting Oakleigh and Melbourne not built until 1879. The Victorian Railways bought land in Oakleigh for use as workshops. Oakleigh became a centre of what was known as "railway fever" as developers developed and marketed houses close to rail lines between Oakleigh and other suburbs for use of workers travelling to and from their job. At the height of the land boom in 1888, land sales were being held two or three times a week in the district. The collapse of the land boom in 1889 eventually contributed to banking collapses in 1893, and the major
depression of the 1890s.
The Gippsland railway remains a significant passenger corridor on the V/Line network, although its use for freight business has now declined to only one major customer, being Australian Paper's export traffic from its mill in Maryvale.
Tourist railways and rail trails

Many of the lines in Gippsland have closed because they had become uneconomic. Some of these have been turned into tourist railways, and other bits into rail trails.
The only tourist railway left operating is the
Walhalla Goldfields Railway between Moe and
Walhalla. Until 2016, the
South Gippsland Railway operated services between
Leongatha and
Nyora, via
Korumburra, however, services ceased in 2015 and the line is now being converted to a
rail trail
A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...
.
Other stretches of line have become rail trails for use by bicyclists. These include:
* the Noojee Trestle Bridge Trail in the upper reaches of the
Latrobe River
The Latrobe River (or sometimes La Trobe or LaTrobe) is a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, located in the West Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The Latrobe River and its associated sub-catchment is an impo ...
;
* a section between Erica and the
Thomson River on the former
Walhalla line (pending eventual reconstruction of the Walhalla Goldfields Railway's tourist line between Thomson and Erica stations).;
* Collins Siding to Tyers Valley Rail Trail near Moe;
* Moe to Yallourn Rail Trail;
* Mirboo North to Boolarra Rail Trail;
*
Great Southern Rail Trail from
Leongatha to
Foster
Foster may refer to:
People
* Foster (surname)
* Foster Brooks (1912–2001), American actor
* Foster Moreau (born 1997), American football player
* Foster Sarell (born 1998), American football player
* John Foster Dulles (1888–1959), America ...
; with extensions under construction to a planned length from
Nyora to
Yarram.
*
Bass Coast Rail Trail Anderson to
Wonthaggi;
*
East Gippsland Rail Trail from
Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...
to
Nowa Nowa and
Orbost; and the
*
Gippsland Plains Rail Trail from
Stratford to
Maffra
Maffra is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agricu ...
.
References
*
*
External links
South Gippsland RailwayStatistics and detailed schematic mapat th
vicsigenthusiast website
;History
{{Victorian Railway Lines, mainlines
Railway lines in Victoria (state)
Railway lines opened in 1859
1859 establishments in Australia
Transport in Gippsland (region)
Shire of East Gippsland
Shire of Baw Baw
Shire of Wellington
Transport in the City of Stonnington
Transport in the City of Yarra
Public transport routes in the City of Melbourne (LGA)
Transport in the City of Monash
Transport in the City of Glen Eira
Transport in the City of Kingston (Victoria)
Transport in the City of Greater Dandenong
Transport in the City of Casey
Transport in the Shire of Cardinia