M>Train (pron. "M train") was a train operator in

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 ...

, Australia, which operated some of the city's suburban rail operations. Formed in July 1998 as Bayside Trains, a business unit of the

Public Transport Corporation The Public Transport Corporation (PTC) was a Victoria State Government owned Public-benefit nonprofit corporation, statutory authority formed under the Transport Act 1983 which operated passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services. The ...

, it was privatised in August 1999 and became a subsidiary of

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

. In December 2002, National Express handed the franchise in, with the

Victorian state government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

taking over until negotiations were concluded for

Connex Melbourne Connex Melbourne was a train operator in Melbourne, Australia. Formed in July 1998 as Hillside Trains, a business unit of the Public Transport Corporation, it was privatised in August 1999 becoming a subsidiary of Veolia Transport, Connex. In ...

to take over in April 2004.

History

In October 1997, in preparation for privatisation, it was announced that the

's suburban rail operations were split into two business units, Bayside Trains and Hillside Trains. On 1 July 1998, the former took over operation of the Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham,

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

, Williamstown,

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werrib ...

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...

(now Sunbury), Broadmeadows (now Craigieburn) and Upfield line services. Bayside Trains initially operated service on the Orbost line as far as

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 ...

under contract to

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, ...

until electric services ceased beyond Pakenham."Melbourne EMU Fleet" ''

Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin ''Australian Railway History'' is a monthly magazine covering railway history in Australia, published by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of its state and territory Divisions. History and pro ...

'' issue 737 March 1999 page 116 On 1 July 1998, operation of the Stony Point line was transferred from V/Line.

successfully bid to take over the Bayside Trains services from 29 August 1999 beating competition from Connex,

GB Railways GB Railways was the parent company of a number of Train operating company, train operating companies, running the Anglia Railways franchise from January 1997 and launching Hull Trains and GB Railfreight. GB Railways was also involved in the mana ...

and a

Singapore MRT The Mass Rapid Transit system, locally known by the initialism MRT, is a rapid transit system in Singapore and the island country's principal mode of railway transportation. After two decades of planning the system commenced operations in Nove ...

led consortium. National Express were also awarded the Swanston Trams franchise and

concession. In October 2000, National Express rebranded Bayside Trains as M>Train. In December 2002, National Express handed in its Victorian rail and tram franchises having been unable to renegotiate financial terms with the

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

who took over operations.

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

were appointed to operate the business on behalf of the State Government. In May 2003, the State Government announced it would establish a single company to operate both networks, and was negotiating with

(who operated the other half of the network) to operate this entity. In February 2004, an agreement was reached, and the networks were reunited on 18 April 2004.

Operations

M>Train operated the suburban rail services in the western, north-western, south-eastern, and southern suburbs running through

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

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 ...

stations. These were the

, Williamstown,

(now Sunbury), Broadmeadows (now Craigieburn), Upfield, Pakenham, Cranbourne, Frankston,

and Stony Point lines, in addition to maintaining the three underground

City Loop The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a piece of rapid transit, underground commuter rail infrastructure in the Melbourne central business district, central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Vict ...

stations. When the Public Transport Corporation fleet was split, Bayside Trains were allocated 58 three-car

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

and 97 three-car

Comeng Commonwealth Engineering, often shortened to Com-Eng, later known as Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Common ...

sets. A class locomotives and MTH carriages were hired from

for services on the unelectrified Stony Point line. To replace the Hitachis, 62 three-car

Siemens Nexas The Siemens Nexas is a class of electric multiple units manufactured by Siemens Transportation Systems for the suburban railway network of Melbourne, Australia between 2002 and 2005. The design of the trains was based on the Siemens Modular ...

were ordered. Until November 2003, M>Train also issued its own annual railway tickets, running in parallel and sold at a discount to those Metcard system, but only permitting travel on their half of the network.

References

External links

* {{NEXG Defunct railway companies of Australia Mobico Group Rail transport in Victoria (state) Railway companies established in 1997 Railway companies disestablished in 2004 1997 establishments in Australia 2004 disestablishments in Australia