Railways in Melbourne
| Melbourne rail network |
|---|
| Electrified metropolitan lines |
|
Alamein • Belgrave • Glen Waverley • Lilydale Sandringham • Werribee • Williamstown Cranbourne • Pakenham • Sunbury Flemington Racecourse |
| Non-electrified metropolitan lines |
| Melton • Stony Point • Wyndham Vale |
| Infrastructure |
| City Loop • Flinders Street Viaduct • Metro Tunnel |
| Projects |
| Level Crossing Removal Project • Melbourne Airport • Suburban Rail Loop |
| Other |
| Freight railways • List of railway stations • List of closed railway stations • Proposed extensions |
The Melbourne rail network is a metropolitan suburban and freight rail system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan rail network is centred around the Melbourne central business district (CBD) and consists of 227 railway stations across 16 lines, which served a patronage of 182.5 million over the year 2023–2024. It is the core of the larger Victorian railway network, with regional links to both intrastate and interstate rail systems.
Metro Trains Melbourne operates the Melbourne metropolitan rail network under franchise from the Victorian Government, overseen by Transport Victoria, a division of the Department of Transport and Planning. The government-owned entity V/Line operates trains from Melbourne across regional Victoria. The first steam train in Australia commenced service in Melbourne in 1854 between Flinders Street and Sandridge, with the metropolitan rail network having grown over the last two centuries to cover much of the city and greater Melbourne area.
The metropolitan network is a suburban rail system designed to transport passengers from Melbourne's suburbs into the Melbourne central business district (CBD) and associated city loop stations, with the main hub at Flinders Street station. Southern Cross station is the main interchange station between metropolitan and regional V/Line services. The Metro Tunnel project opened in December 2025 to increase rail capacity within the CBD and relive pressure from the City Loop.
A total length of 1,000 km (620 mi) of track is owned by VicTrack and leased to train operators through Transport Victoria. The railway network is primarily at ground level, with some underground and elevated sections. There were more than 170 level crossings before the Level Crossing Removal Project commenced in 2015 to grade separate 110 of the busiest crossings and rebuild 51 railway stations, with 87 crossings removed by October 2025. The metropolitan network operates primarily between 5:00 a.m. and midnight, with overnight services on Friday night to Saturday morning and Saturday night to Sunday morning, departing from Flinders Street only. Some tracks are also used by freight trains and V/Line regional services.
In addition to the primary commuter and freight railway networks, Melbourne also features heritage railways such as Puffing Billy and has the world's largest urban tram network.