Portland Railway Line
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The Portland railway line is a railway line in south-western
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
,
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 from the main
Western standard gauge line The Western standard gauge railway line is a standard-gauge railway line in western Victoria, Australia. Completed in 1995, it forms part of the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor and serves as the principal interstate rail link between Victor ...
at Maroona through
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
to the port town of
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
.


History

The line was built as (
broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...
) from Ararat to Maroona,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
, Heywood and
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
, and opened in 1877. It was converted to
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
in 1995. Freight operator
Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock, jointly owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Governm ...
indefinitely suspended all rail services to
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
in 2004, affecting local companies including Portland Aluminium, transport company
Kalari A kalari is a gymnasium or training space primarily associated with the martial art of Kalaripayattu. The word ''kalari'' comes from Tamil. In the past, village schools in Tamilnadu, typically run by the traditional astrologer families, were k ...
, and freight broker Anchor Logistics. Portland container traffic had been conveyed between Maroona and Portland on grain services twice a week, but Pacific National said that the drought meant there were no trains to attach the loading to. On the route the price differential between rail and road was $12.97 per tonne in rail's favour. Pacific National closed their Portland operations in March 2008, with
GrainCorp GrainCorp Limited is an Australian commodity trading company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The company's core business is the receiving and storage of grain and related commodities. It also provides logistics and markets these ...
leasing a limited number of locomotives and rolling stock from them, but favour transporting grain to the
Port of Geelong The Port of Geelong is located on the shores of Corio Bay at Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The port is the sixth-largest in Australia by tonnage. Major commodities handled by the port include crude oil and petroleum products, export grain and w ...
instead. In July 2008, the Victorian Government announced a $15 million upgrade to the line, raising maximum speeds to 80 kilometres an hour as they were previously. The
Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation, spanning across five states and 39 worksites. ARTC continues to expand the networ ...
signed a 50-year lease to manage the line and was to start the upgrade within months. The line was finally transferred from V/Line to the ARTC on 22 March 2009. In September 2008, it was announced that freight traffic would restart, with operator El Zorro signing a multi-million deal with miner
Iluka Resources Iluka Resources is an Australian resources company, specialising in mineral sands exploration, project development, operations and marketing. Iluka is the largest producer of zircon and titanium dioxidederived rutile and synthetic rutile global ...
to carry containerised
mineral sands Heavy mineral sands are a class of ore deposit which is an important source of zirconium, titanium, thorium, tungsten, rare-earth elements, the industrial minerals diamond, sapphire, garnet, and occasionally precious metals or gemstones. Heavy mi ...
from
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
in the south-west to
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 ...
, with Iluka saying rail transport was cheaper than road. The train ran on an irregular basis. In March 2010, the State Government announced a $3.97 million grant for the construction of a rail loading facility alongside the Iluka Resources mineral sand separation plant near the Hamilton railway station for the rail transport of heavy mineral concentrate extracted from the Iluka mine site at
Ouyen Ouyen is a town in Victoria, Australia, located in the Rural City of Mildura at the junction of the Calder Highway and Mallee Highway, south of Mildura, and northwest of Melbourne. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 1,045. Hi ...
via the standard gauge Murtoa - Hopetoun railway. Grain trains on the line restarted with the 2010 harvest, with
AWB Limited AWB Limited was a major grain marketing organisation based in Australia. Founded in 1939 by the Government of Australia as the Australian Wheat Board, in 1999 it became a private company, owned by wheat growers. It was acquired by Agrium in 201 ...
and its rail partner El Zorro using the GrainCorp terminal to load 26,250 tonnes of
canola file:CanolaBlooms.JPG, Close-up of canola blooms file:Canola Flower.jpg, Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both Edible oil, edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several ...
bound for Pakistan on 4 March 2010.


Branch lines

A short lived branch line was opened from
Dunkeld Dunkeld (, , from , "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundar ...
to
Penshurst Penshurst is a historic village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Weald, Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, Kent, River Eden, within the Seveno ...
in 1890 but closed only eight years later. A branch line was opened from Hamilton north to
Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English auth ...
between 1910 and 1920. This was connected to the
Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
- Balmoral railway in the 1920s, which itself connected back to the main Serviceton line. This line was closed south of Noradjuha, (just south of East Natimuk) in 1979. A branch line from Hamilton north-west to
Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...
was opened in 1882, being closed in 1977. A branch line was opened between Hamilton and
Koroit Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool, Victoria, Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local govern ...
in the 1890, where it connected to the South West line via Warrnambool, but was closed in 1977. A branch line was opened from
Branxholme Branxholme is a hamlet in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, overlooking the River Teviot, southwest of Hawick, on the A7 road to Langholm. Nearby are Ale Water, Alemoor Loch, Burnfoot, Borthwick Water, Colterscleugh Monument, Robert ...
north-west to Casterton in 1884. This line was closed in 1977. A branch line was opened from Heywood west to
Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with a population of 25,591 as of the 2021 census. The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about ...
in 1917. Service was suspended in 1995 due to the standardisation of the Maroona - Portland line. There are regular calls for the Heywood - Mount Gambier line to be standardised.


Services

The gauge conversion of the Mildura line to standard gauge in 2017/2018 has resulted in the resumption of seasonal grain trains from the Wimmera and Mallee regionals to Portland. Prior to that, the only regular service on the line was the thrice weekly El Zorro containerised
mineral sands Heavy mineral sands are a class of ore deposit which is an important source of zirconium, titanium, thorium, tungsten, rare-earth elements, the industrial minerals diamond, sapphire, garnet, and occasionally precious metals or gemstones. Heavy mi ...
train from
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
. The last passenger train between Ararat and Portland was on 12 September 1981, operated by a
DRC railcar The DRC (Diesel Rail Car) is a class of railmotor operated by the Victorian Railways on its country rail network in Victoria, Australia. The cars were built by Tulloch Limited in New South Wales, and featured aluminium and steel construction, ...
. A new passenger station at Portland had been officially opened on 29 June 1968.


References


External links


Information about the line at Vicsig
{{Victorian Railway Lines, mainlines Railway lines in Victoria (state) Railway lines opened in 1877 Portland, Victoria 1877 establishments in Australia Standard-gauge railways in Australia Transport in Barwon South West (region)