Bendigo V/Line rail service

The Bendigo V/Line rail service is a regional passenger rail service operated by V/Line in Victoria, Australia. It serves 14 stations towards its terminus in the regional city of Bendigo. It is the third most-used regional rail service in Victoria (behind the Ballarat and Geelong services), carrying 2.06 million passengers in the 2022-23 financial year.

Beyond Bendigo, the Echuca V/Line rail service continues north-east to Echuca via Epsom; and the Swan Hill V/Line rail services continues north-west via Eaglehawk. Services are operated to Bendigo and Echuca primarily using V/Line VLocity diesel multiple unit sets in either 3- or 6-car configurations; V/Line N class loco-hauled services run to Swan Hill, with a mixture of N type carriages and Z type carriages.

19th and 20th centuries
The Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company built the line between Melbourne to Bendigo, finishing the fully double-track line in 1862. Throughout the early 20th century, many branch lines were built along the length of the Bendigo line, but by the time V/Line took over Victorian regional passenger services in 1983, the only passengers services still using the Bendigo corridor were the Bendigo and Swan Hill intercity services. A twice-weekly passenger service to Echuca from Melbourne via Bendigo was reinstated in 1996.

Regional Fast Rail
Under the Regional Fast Rail Project in 2006, the Bendigo line underwent major track upgrades that would allow for V/Line VLocity diesel multiple unit trains to be introduced to the line, running at speeds of up to 160km/h between Sunbury and Bendigo. Controversially, between Kyneton and Bendigo the line was singled, officially to allow for better clearance past heritage structures. Some double track sections were retained, effectively creating long crossing loops; these sections of track were provided with bidirectional signalling, but only the main running line was upgraded for high-speed running.

Sunbury line electrification
In 2012, electrification on the line was extended from Sydenham (now Watergardens) to Sunbury along the V/Line tracks. This caused some controversy among frequent users of V/Line's Bendigo services as it would cause extra congestion, slowing down the Bendigo service. Ian Dobbs, then head of Public Transport Victoria acknowledged this issue, stating that "there's a slight slow-down of services on that particular corridor with this timetable, because we're putting more Metro services in the mix."

Regional Rail Link
In 2008, the Regional Rail Link project was announced. Finished in 2015, it consists of a new pair of tracks exclusively for V/Line services, avoiding the need to share tracks with Metro's electrified suburban services. The tracks begin west of Werribee, following an alignment up to Deer Park, then running into two new platforms at Southern Cross, completely bypassing Tottenham, West Footscray, Middle Footscray, South Kensington, and North Melbourne; but still including stops at Sunshine and Footscray at two platforms dedicated to V/Line services. All current timetabled Bendigo services run express through Sunshine.

The main benefit of the project was for the Geelong line service, which used to run along the same tracks as Metro's Werribee line, resulting in significant congestion. Ballarat and especially Bendigo services benefited less, only being separated from Metro's Sunbury line service between Sunshine and Southern Cross. While the project was overall well-received for increasing service reliability, the choice to bypass North Melbourne was especially criticised.

Bendigo Metro Rail
In 2014, Epsom Station was constructed to serve Bendigo's northern suburb of the same name. It was initially serviced four times daily by extending some services that terminated at Bendigo.

In 2016, three more services that would have terminated at Bendigo were also extended to Eaglehawk Station, which is on the Piangil line, therefore it is an extra station on the Swan Hill service rather than on the Echuca service like Epsom Station, which runs on the same line as Bendigo services (the Deniliquin line).

The advent of the Bendigo Metro Rail Project has significantly increased the frequency of trains to Epsom, Eaglehawk, and Kangaroo Flat.

Regional Rail Revival
The Regional Rail Revival project primarily focused on upgrades to the Echuca and Swan Hill services. Three new stations were constructed: Goornong and Huntly on the Echuca line, and Raywood on the Swan Hill line. Tracks were upgraded to support the introduction of V/Line VLocity trains to Echuca, running up to 130 km/h between Bendigo and Goornong (up from 60 km/h), and 100 km/h the rest of the way to Echuca (up from 80 km/h), reducing the journey time by approximately 12 minutes. 10 level crossings towards Eaglehawk were upgraded, improving safety and reliability.

Services
Trains operate approximately once an hour between Southern Cross and Bendigo every day, with some services originating or terminating at Epsom or Eaglehawk. Bendigo services share tracks with all of Metro's Sunbury line stations, but they run express through all of them except either Watergardens or Sunbury − the only service to stop at both is the 06:20 service from Eaglehawk to Southern Cross.

Services to Echuca run three times a day on weekdays, and twice a day on weekends. The 11:06 weekday service from Southern Cross is timetabled as a shuttle service that terminates at Bendigo, then forms the Echuca service approximately 13 minutes later. There are two services to Swan Hill every day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

Services to Bendigo and Echuca are currently run by V/Line VLocity trains, while the classic V/Line N class locomotives are used for Swan Hill services, with N type and Z type carriages.

Infrastructure
The entire line to Bendigo was originally constructed as double-track. As part of the Regional Fast Rail project, sections of the line were singled in 2006: the line is currently double-track to Kyneton, then single-track with crossing loops the rest of the route to Bendigo, Echuca, and Swan Hill.