Williamstown railway line

The Williamstown railway line is a commuter rail passenger train service in Melbourne, Australia, operating between Williamstown in the western suburbs to Flinders Street in the central business district.

Services
Weekday daytime services on the Williamstown line stops all stations to and from Flinders Street via Southern Cross, and all services extend past Flinders Street to Frankston as the Frankston line. During the morning peak, outbound services continue to stop all stations while citybound services skip South Kensington. During the evening peak, outbound services skip South Kensington instead of citybound services, which stops all stations.

Late night weekday services and all weekend services operate as a shuttle between Newport and Williamstown, connecting with a Werribee service.

The Williamstown line is the only metropolitan line with regular services that never serves Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Parliament stations.

Description
The Williamstown line runs across flat coastal land and therefore, has no significant earthworks. From the junction at Newport to the next station of North Williamstown, it runs beside the Newport Workshops, and from there through mainly old residential areas. The line used to continue a short distance to Williamstown Pier, around which there is heavy industrial areas including shipbuilding.

Infrastructure
The line is double track throughout, except for Williamstown station, and provided with automatic block signalling. There are no intermediate terminating facilities. Stabling facilities are provided within the grounds of the Newport workshops.

History
Although it is now operated as a branch from the main Werribee/Geelong line at Newport, the line was originally built from the city, with the Geelong line being the branch. The line officially opened in January 1859, but the section between the vicinity of the Newport workshops and Williamstown Pier was in use by Geelong-line trains from October 1857 (see the history of the Werribee line for more information).

The line was electrified in August 1920, but little further change to the infrastructure took place until the section from Williamstown to Williamstown Pier closed in March 1987. Automatic Block signalling was provided in August 1997.

With the electrification of the Werribee line in 1983, many of the Williamstown Pier services became shuttle services from Newport instead of through services from Flinders Street.