Frankston railway line

The Frankston railway line is a commuter rail passenger train service in Melbourne, Victoria. It operates between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Frankston through the south-eastern suburbs including Richmond, South Yarra, Armadale, Malvern, Caulfield East, Glen Huntly, Ormond, McKinnon, Bentleigh, Moorabbin, Cheltenham, Mentone, Parkdale, Mordialloc, Aspendale, Edithvale, Chelsea, Bonbeach, Carrum, Seaford, and Frankston. The line continues on to Stony Point as the Stony Point line (not yet electrified). It is operated by Metro Trains Melbourne and is part of the Public Transport Victoria metropolitan rail network.

Description
The Frankston line runs south from Caulfield, functioning from the main line to Pakenham and Gippsland, and runs through built-up areas for its entire length. From Mentone the line is never more than about 1 km from the eastern shore of Port Phillip, and runs alongside the Nepean Highway for much of its length.

After Caulfield, the line traverses flat country and has fairly minor earthworks, and has numerous level crossings. The level crossing near Glenhuntly station is one of Melbourne's three remaining crossings with tram tracks, and the only one with three railway tracks crossing two tramway tracks.

Infrastructure
The Frankston railway line shares four tracks with the line to Dandenong and beyond from near Richmond to Caulfield, running next to the Sandringham line as far as South Yarra.

From Caulfield, the Frankston line has three tracks to Moorabbin. The centre track is signalled for bidirectional operation, allowing for express trains overtaking stopping trains in the peak direction. From Moorabbin to Frankston the line is double track.

Power signalling is provided throughout, and intermediate terminating facilities are provided at Moorabbin, Cheltenham, Mordialloc, and Carrum. Stabling facilities for suburban trains are provided at Mordialloc, Carrum, and Frankston.

Services
Off-Peak Off-peak services on the Frankston line stop all stations between Flinders Street and Frankston, with a train every 10 minutes and every 20 minutes between 7:45pm and 11:25pm on weekdays, early mornings and late nights on weekends. It is the only line in the Melbourne metropolitan rail network to have a 10-minute frequency off-peak and is one of the lines that operate a 20-minute frequency on weekday nights, the other being the Sandringham line.

Shoulder-Peak and Peak On weekday morning peaks, citybound trains run express between Cheltenham/Moorabbin and South Yarra, stopping at Caulfield and Malvern; weekday afternoon outbound trains do the same, the only exception is that they don't stop at Malvern. Express services are supplemented by stopping-all-stations trains that may terminate/originate at Frankston, Carrum, Mordialloc, Cheltenham, or Moorabbin. Most weekday morning outbound services stop all stations, with some skipping stations between South Yarra and Caulfield; all weekday afternoon citybound trains stop all stations.

City Loop On weekdays, most Frankston trains run direct to/from Flinders Street, with selected peak services travelling through the City Loop. Trains run in an anticlockwise direction through the Loop on weekday mornings and weekends, while on weekday afternoons trains run clockwise.

History
The line from Caulfield to Mordialloc opened in December 1881 and was extended to Frankston in August 1882. It was electrified in three stages between March and August 1922.

Power signalling of the line was begun in 1933 with the section from Caulfield to Glenhuntly, and the remainder of the line was converted in a number of stages from 1958 to 1986. Amplification of the line from Caulfield to Moorabbin to three tracks was announced by then Transport Minister Steve Crabb in 1984, at a cost of $10 million to save 10 minutes on travel times from Frankston. Work begun in July that year and was due for completion by the end of 1985. However, it did not enter service until June 1986, with three track working commencing in July the same year. Plans in the 1970s included the third track to extend to Mordialloc, however those plans did not eventuate.

The current bridge over the Patterson River was provided in 1974, replacing the previous trestle bridge.

On 1 March 2007, Zone 3 in the Melbourne Metropolitan rail system was abolished (see Metcard). All stations between Patterson and Frankston are now in Zone 2.

In their "People Plan" for the 2010 Victorian election, the Australian Greens proposed to extend electrification of the Frankston/Stony Point Line and add new stations at Langwarrin and Mornington onto the suburban train network, allowing for increased capacity, increased frequency and easier integration.

At the 2010 state election, both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party promised to provide a new Premium station between Highett and Cheltenham, to serve the Westfield Southland shopping centre. The station was to cost $13-million, would have had two platforms, and was predicted to be used by 1,400 passengers daily. The project was scheduled for completion by 2014, but nothing was done until after the 2014 state election. The Station opened on 26 November 2017.

In the early 2010s, the line, along with the Werribee and Williamstown lines, was upgraded as part of the Bayside Rail Project. The upgrade included station refurbishments, track, signal and electrical upgrades to allow X'Trapolis trains to operate on the line.

In 2017 the Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy pledged to extend the Frankston train line to Baxter which would include making it electrified like the majority of Melbourne's train lines.

In November 2018, Victorian State Government announced plans to remove two further level crossings at Neerim Road and Glen Huntly Road in Glenhuntly. Brand new Glenhuntly station is included in the project, as well as the elimination of tram-train square outside of station, which will separate tram and train services in the area.