Flemington Racecourse line

The Flemington Racecourse line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's shortest metropolitan railway line at 7.8 km. The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Flemington Racecourse station, situated next to the racecourse in the city's north west, serving a total of 5 stations. The line operates only during special events, with services as frequent as every 4 minutes during peak periods of those special events. Trains on the Flemington Racecourse line run with two three-car formations of Comeng, Siemens Nexas, or X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.

The Flemington Racecourse line originated in 1861 as a branch of the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company, designed to link the Melbourne rail network with Flemington Racecourse. The racecourse, established in 1840, gained its railway connection in 1861 but closed in 1864 due to financial issues. The Victorian Railways took over and reopened the line in 1867. Notably, the line was electrified in 1918, making it Melbourne's first electrified route. Automatic signalling was introduced in 1919, though the connection between points and signals ceased in the 1980s or 1990s with the closure of sidings.

Since the 2010s, only minor upgrades have taken place, including upgrades of signalling, the replacement of sleepers, and station accessibility upgrades.

19th century
The Flemington Racecourse line opened as a branch from Newmarket by the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company in February 1861. The line was constructed to connect the Melbourne rail network with Flemington Racecourse, the main horse racing facility in Melbourne. The racecourse was originally opened in 1840 and received its rail connection 21 years later in 1861. Three years later, in July 1864, the line was closed after the company faced financial difficulties. The line was taken over by the Victorian Railways and reopened in November 1867.

20th century
The line was electrified in 1918 for the testing of electric trains, and therefore became the first electrified line in Melbourne. The first electric train ran a test trip from Newmarket to Flemington Racecourse station on 6 October 1918.

Automatic signalling, using two-position signals, was provided in September 1919. When passenger services were operated on the line, the points were connected to the signal boxes and the signals were brought into use. This arrangement finished in the 1980s or 1990s when the sidings were closed.

21st century
During the 2017 Melbourne Cup, a group of activists drove onto and blocked the rail tracks in an effort to protest refugee detention centres on Manus Island. The disruption caused major delays on the line during its busiest period of the year, causing racegoers to exit the train with assistance from emergency services and walk along the tracks to access the racecourse.

Services
Services on the Flemington Racecourse line operate only during special events, including during the Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day, the Royal Melbourne Show, university exams (at Victoria University located nearby), or any other large events. In general, during special events, train frequency is 4–60 minutes depending on the size of the crowd and the flow of passengers. As the line only operates during special events, services do not run 24 hours a day on Friday nights and weekends.

Train services on the Flemington Racecourse line are also subjected to maintenance and renewal works, usually when the line isn't in use for special events. In the event that maintenance does need to occur during a special event, shuttle bus services are provided throughout the duration of works for affected commuters.

Stopping patterns
Legend — Station status
 * ◼ Premium Station – Station staffed from first to last train
 * ◻ Host Station – Usually staffed during morning peak, however this can vary for different stations on the network.

Legend — Stopping patterns Services do not operate via the City Loop
 * ● – All trains stop
 * ◐ – Some services do not stop
 * | – Trains pass and do not stop

Operators
The Flemington Racecourse line has had a total of 7 operators since its opening in 1861. The majority of operations throughout its history have been government run: from the acquisition of the service from private operator Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company in 1867 until the 1998 privatisation of Melbourne's rail network, four different government operators have run the line. These operators, Victorian Railways, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Public Transport Corporation, and Hillside Trains have a combined operational length of 133 years. Hillside Trains was privatised in 1999 and later rebranded Connex Melbourne. Metro Trains Melbourne, the current private operator, then took over the operations in 2009. Both private operators have had a combined operational period of 26 years.

Route
The Flemington Racecourse line forms a mostly linear route from the Melbourne central business district to its terminus at Flemington Racecourse. The route is 7.8 km long and is fully double tracked. Exiting the city, the line only has minor earthworks, with some sections of the line being elevated or lowered into a cutting to eliminate level crossings. Despite some removals, there are a number of level crossings still present with no current plans to remove them.

The line follows the same alignment as multiple other lines, with the Flemington Racecourse line splitting off at North Melbourne. The Flemington Racecourse line continues on its western alignment, whereas the other lines continue onto a northern, western, or south-western alignment. Most of the rail line goes through built-up suburbs and event facilities.

Stations
The line serves 5 stations across 7.8 km of track. The stations are a mix of lowered and ground level designs.

Rolling stock
The Flemington Racecourse line uses three different types of electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that are operated in a split six-car configuration, with three doors per side on each carriage. The primary rolling stock featured on the line is the Comeng EMUs, built by Commonwealth Engineering between 1981 and 1988. Siemens Nexas EMUs are also widely featured on the line, originally built between 2002 and 2005. These train sets feature more modern technology than the Comeng trains. The final type of rolling stock featured on the line is the X'Trapolis 100 built by Alstom between 2002 and 2004, and 2009 and 2020. All of these rolling stock models are widely used on other lines across the metropolitan network and work as the backbone of the network.

Alongside the passenger trains, Flemington Racecourse line tracks and equipment are maintained by a fleet of engineering trains. The four types of engineering trains are:


 * The shunting train; designed for moving trains along non-electrified corridors and for transporting other maintenance locomotives
 * For track evaluation; designed for evaluating track and its condition
 * The overhead inspection train; designed for overhead wiring inspection
 * The infrastructure evaluation carriage; designed for general infrastructure evaluation.

Most of these trains are repurposed locomotives previously used by V/Line, Metro Trains, and the Southern Shorthaul Railroad.

Planned rolling stock
From the middle of 2020s, the next generation of the X'Trapolis family of electric EMUs—the X'Trapolis 2.0—will be introduced. This new model will fully replace the existing fleet of Comeng EMUs currently operating on the line currently with new, modern, and technologically advanced trains. The new trains will include features designed to increase passenger comfort like quicker doors, allowing for reduced boarding times, passenger information systems to display relevant information about the train and its journey, designated bicycle storage areas, and 6 cars that are fully walk through. For reliability, the trains have a higher energy efficiency to work with a lower network voltage. Finally, accessibility is improved through new interior designs featuring fold-up seating to allow additional space for wheelchair users and passenger operated automatic wheelchair ramps (located behind the two driver cabs).

Accessibility
In compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, all stations that are new-built or rebuilt are fully accessible and comply with legal guidelines. Three of the five stations on the corridor are fully accessible, but the others have not been upgraded to meet these guidelines. These stations feature ramps with gradients greater than 1 in 14, the maximum slope for stations lacking at-grade paths or lifts. Fully accessible stations typically also feature tactile boarding indicators, independent boarding ramps, wheelchair accessible myki barriers, hearing loops, and widened paths.

Projects improving station accessibility have included individual station upgrade projects, which may include station rebuilds or upgrades. These works have made significant strides in improving network accessibility, with more than 60% of Flemington Racecourse line stations classed as fully accessible. Future station upgrade projects will continue to increase the number of fully accessible stations overtime.

Signalling
The Flemington Racecourse line uses three-position signalling, which is widely used across the Melbourne train network. Three-position signalling was first introduced in 1924, with the final section of the line converted to the new type of signalling 90 years later in 2014. The Flemington Racecourse line had Melbourne's last remaining example of two-position automatic signalling, apart from a section of the Hurstbridge line between Greensborough and Hurstbridge stations.