The St Kilda railway line is a former railway line 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 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 ...

Operation

The line was opened by the

Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company The Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company was a railway company in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The company was incorporated on 20 January 1853 to build the Port Melbourne railway line, line from Melbourne to the port o ...

in 1857. It ran for 4.5 kilometres from the

(or City) Terminus (on the site of modern-day Flinders Street station), crossing the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

via the Sandridge Bridge, to branch off from the Port Melbourne line and after stopping at three stations along the line –

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

, Albert Park, Middle Park – ending at St Kilda. For a short time early in the line's history, there was a short connection provided to the then Brighton line at Windsor, however this link was removed shortly after the direct link was provided to

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District, Toronto, Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Economy of Canada, Canada's financial services indust ...

from

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. The line was taken over by the

Government of Victoria The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the Executive (government), executive government of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. As a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutiona ...

in 1878, to become part of

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

. The line was electrified in 1919.

Closure

The line was originally to be closed in 1981, and replaced with buses as recommended in the Lonie Report. Plans were sufficiently advanced for

Melbourne-Brighton Bus Lines Melbourne-Brighton Bus Lines was an Australian bus and coach operator in Melbourne. History Melbourne-Brighton Bus Lines was formed in 1954 by the combination of a number of operators who served route 1 Gardenvale, Victoria, Gardenvale to Melbo ...

to have taken delivery of six

Volgren Volgren is an Australian bus and coach body manufacturer. History Volvo Buses, VolGrenda Corporation, gren was formed in 1977 by Melbourne bus operator Grenda Corporation in Dandenong, Victoria. Because Grenda held the Volvo Buses dealership i ...

bodied

Volvo B10M The Volvo B10M is a mid-engine design, mid-engined city bus and coach (bus), coach chassis manufactured by Volvo Buses, Volvo between 1978 and 2003. It succeeded the Volvo B58, B58 and was equipped with the same 9.6-litre horizontally mounted Vo ...

buses before it was decided to retain the rail service following much opposition to its closure. Along with the Port Melbourne line, the conversion of the line to

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

was first announced on 13 January 1983, by 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 ...

. Cost estimates at the time was around $6 million. The line was officially closed on 31 July 1987, and reopened as part of the Melbourne tram network on 21 November 1987.

Melbourne tram route 96 Melbourne tram route 96 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Trams in Melbourne, Melbourne tram network from Brunswick East, East Brunswick to Acland Street, St Kilda Beach. The 13.9 kilometre route is operated out of Southbank tram depot, Southba ...

now operates on the converted track. The section from Southbank Junction to St Kilda was converted to light rail, requiring the

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

from

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 ...

used by the Melbourne rail network to tram track as well as reducing the overhead voltage from 1,500 V DC to 600 V DC required for the trams. The new tram route now continues down Fitzroy Street and the Esplanade to terminate at

Acland Street Acland Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach Route Acland Street runs ...

Line guide

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Kilda railway line Closed Melbourne railway lines 5 ft 3 in gauge railways in Australia Railway lines opened in 1857 Railway lines closed in 1987 1857 establishments in Australia 1987 disestablishments in Australia

Railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...