Pakenham line

Route map
	Note: time and km's shown with origin as Flinders Street

Pakenham
Pakenham
	An East Pakenham-bound service High Capacity Metro Train arriving at Sandown Park station Platform 2, February 2026
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
System	Melbourne railway network
Status	Operational
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Predecessor	Princes Bridge – Richmond (1859–1860); Princes Bridge – South Yarra (1860–1879); Oakleigh – Pakenham (1877–1879); Dandenong ^ (1922–1954); ^ are electric services
First service	8 October 1877 as South Gippsland line
Current operator	Metro Trains
Former operators	Victorian Railways (VR) (1877–1974); VR as VicRail (1974–1983); MTA (The Met) (1983–1989); PTC (The Met) (1989–1998); Bayside Trains (1998–2000); M>Train (2000–2004); Connex Melbourne (2004–2009);
Route
Termini	Town Hall; East Pakenham
Stops	24
Distance travelled	58.8 km (36.5 mi)
Average journey time	1 hour 13 minutes
Service frequency	3–4 minutes to and from Dandenong during weekday peak; 10 minutes to and from from Dandenong off-peak; 20 minutes from East Pakenham to the city; 60 minutes early weekend mornings;
Line used	Gippsland
Technical
Rolling stock	HCMT
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC overhead
Track owner	VicTrack
Route map
Route map
	Note: time and km's shown with origin as Flinders Street

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The Pakenham line is a commuter railway line on the Melbourne metropolitan railway network serving the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, the line is coloured light blue and is one of the three lines that constitute the Metro Tunnel Group. It is the city's longest metropolitan railway line at 58.8 kilometres (36.5 mi). The line runs from Town Hall station in central Melbourne to East Pakenham station in the south-east, serving 24 stations via Caulfield, Oakleigh, and Dandenong.

The line operates for approximately 20 hours a day (from approximately 4:00 am to around midnight) with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hour, headways of up to 5 to 10 minutes are operated with services every 20 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Pakenham line run with a seven-car formation operated by High Capacity Metro Trains.

Sections of the Pakenham line opened as early as 1859, with the line fully extended to Pakenham in October 1877. A limited number of stations were first opened, with infill stations progressively opened between 1879 and 2012. The line was built to connect Melbourne with the rural towns of Caulfield, Oakleigh, and Dandenong, amongst others. Significant growth has occurred since opening, with an extension to open on the Pakenham line one stop east to a new station in Pakenham East as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project. This extension opened on 3 June 2024.

Since the 2010s, due to the heavily utilised infrastructure of the Pakenham line, significant improvements and upgrades have been made. A $15 billion upgrade of the corridor included the replacement of sleepers, the introduction of new signalling technology, the introduction of new rolling stock, the removal of all level crossings, and works associated with the Metro Tunnel project. These projects have improved the quality and safety of the line and were completed by the opening of the Metro Tunnel in November 2025. On the 1st February 2026, the Pakenham line was through routed with the Sunbury line, running through the Metro Tunnel via Town Hall station.