The Glen Waverley line leaves the Lilydale, Belgrave and Alamein lines at Burnley, and crosses the Yarra River to follow the Monash Freeway and the valley of Gardiners Creek through seven stations to Holmesglen. Next it rises through Jordanville and Mount Waverley stations, before reaching a peak just overabove sea level west of Lawrence Road. After this the line descends rapidly to a bridge across a valley before the next station, Syndal. The line rises and falls again to the terminus, Glen Waverley. The journey from Holmesglen to the terminus involves some of the steepest grades in Melbourne. Despite the heavy grades, earthworks are fairly moderate. The line has several level crossings in the Gardiners Creek section, but the rest of the line crosses roads by means of bridges over or under the railway. The level crossings include one of Melbourne's three locations where the railway crosses tram lines, at Glenferrie Road near Kooyong station. The tramway crossing at Burke Road near Gardiner station was replaced with a rail-under-road bridge in 2015.
Infrastructure
The line is double track throughout, and controlled by automatic block signalling. Intermediate terminating facilities are provided only at Darling, although it is not normally used. Stabling facilities are provided at the junction and the terminus.
History
A rail connection from Princes Bridge station to Punt Road was made over a line built by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company in 1859, and their branch line from Richmond to Burnley opened in 1861. In 1890, what would become the Glen Waverley line, opened from Burnley to Darling. The Burnley – Darling line was electrified in 1920 with a one station extension to East Malvern in 1929. In 1930 the line was extended to Glen Waverley and became the Glen Waverley railway line. At the same time in 1890 a line known as the Outer Circle line opened, running from Oakleigh to Darling, continuing to Burnley. The Outer Circle was closed in sections between 1893 and 1897 and the Burnley – Waverley Road line section was cut back to Darling in 1895. In 1929 when the Glen Waverley line construction began its first extension from Darling to East Malvern, it was on the track of the Outer Circle line up to a short distance nigh of the new East Malvern station. The Outer Circle line would have begun its curve south towards Waverley Road and Oakleigh. The Glen Waverley line was to continue straight east and curve towards Holmesglen. The 1950s saw the line undergo major upgrades, including the first centralised traffic control installation in Australia. Commissioned in September 1957 and in length, the Victorian Railways installed it as a prototype for the North East standard project. The Comeng trains were introduced to the Melbourne railway system in 1981. Initially, along with the Glen Waverley line, they were only allowed to operate on the Alamein, Belgrave, Dandenong and Lilydale lines, due to the width of the trains.. As of January 2020, Comeng Trains never operate on the Glen Waverley line and replaced by X'Trapolis 100 trains. On 20 November 1989, a train collision occurred at Syndal station when a passenger train collided with a stationary train at Syndal.
Services
Local (Stopping all stations)
Citybound services, and outbound services on weekdays mornings, travel direct to and from Flinders Street. Outbound trains on weekdays afternoons and weekends starts from Flinders Street and goes via the City Loop clockwise. During the weekdays peaks,most outbound services and one citybound skip East Richmond.
Operates only during the evening peak on weekdays. Express services skip all stations between Richmond and Darling. Only two outbound services and one citybound service operates using this service pattern.
◻ Host Station - Usually staffed during Morning peak, however this can vary for different stations on the network.
Legend - Stopping Patterns
● - All Trains Stop
◕ - Trains usually stop, except for some trains in the morning and afternoon peaks on weekdays
▼ - Only Outbound Trains stop
Line guide
Bold stations are termini, where some train services terminate; italic stations are staffed; and stations with an asterisk are manned only during morning peak. Branches from the Belgrave, Lilydale and Alamein lines at Burnley.
City Loop
On weekday mornings, services run direct to and from Flinders Street, without travelling through the City Loop. Most weekday afternoon and weekend services operate direct to Flinders Street before travelling through the City Loop.
