On Tuesday I wrote about the state government's pre-budget announcement regarding more frequent trains on the Clifton Hill and Burnley groups. Essentially they boost 30 to 40 minute headways to 20 minutes. The Clifton Hill group will gain more weekend trains while the Burnley group will get its uplift on weeknights. Both will greatly improve the passenger experience and shorten connections.
They are also major uplifts in historical terms. Especially because in Melbourne train frequencies so rarely change that they can endure as long (or longer) than models of train.
The same media release that announced the increased services also announced an order of 25 X'Trapolis trains that will replace the Comeng fleet. These entered service in 1981. As opposed to 1978 when the cuts that established the basic form of evening timetables (that is trains every 30 minutes, reduced from every 20 minutes) on most lines took place. The new timetables, to be introduced nearly a half century later when Melbourne has doubled in population, will go part way to restore evening service to every 20 minutes.
Tuesday's item had a map showing the 30 to 40 minute gaps that will remain in the timetable from 2027, after which the 2025 and 2026 budgeted train service upgrades will be operational. That map was useful to show what could be done next. However it did not show differences by time of day or day of week.
Monday - Friday midday
The main recent service uplift for interpeak weekdays happened in February 2026 on the Sunbury line when the Metro Tunnel opened. The next one due (mid 2026) is Sandringham, as funded in the 2025 budget. The 2026 budget did not have any service uplifts for interpeak weekdays.
Most notable is the unresolved 30 minute interpeak frequency on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines. Waurn Ponds is also notable for its 40 minute interpeak headway despite running every 20 min on weekends.
The main recent service uplift for interpeak weekdays happened in February 2026 on the Sunbury line when the Metro Tunnel opened. The 2025 and 2026 budgets did not have any service uplifts for interpeak weekdays on Metro lines though the Traralgon line went from 60 to 40 min headways in 2025.
Most notable is the unresolved 40 minute weekend frequency on the Melton line.
Sunday morning
The main recent service uplift for Sunday morning happened in February 2026 on the Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines when the Metro Tunnel opened. The 2025 budget funded an upgrade from 40 to 20 minutes for Craigieburn and Upfield. 2026's budget will do similar for Mernda and inner Hurstbridge.
Most notable is the unresolved 40 minute Sunday morning frequency on the Sandringham line and the 30 minute headways on all Burnley group lines.
Monday - Friday evening
Monday - Friday evening
These are the most dramatic changes. Over 2026-2027 something like 9 lines will have got weeknight frequency uplifts. These include Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne (Feb 2026), Craigieburn and Upfield (mid 2026?) and, in these latest budgeted changes, Belgrave, Lilydale, Alamein and Glen Waverley (sometime in late 2026 or 2027). To that could be added the Williamstown, Werribee and Frankston lines that got a similar upgrade in 2021.
Most notable is the unresolved 30 minute weeknight service on the Mernda and inner Hurstbridge line (which also means hourly service on the outer Hurstbridge line) as well as low frequencies for Melton.
Saturday - Sunday evening
These changes are also quite dramatic. The Metro Tunnel timetable benefited Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne. 2025's budget boost upped Craigieburn and Upfield's weekend evening service from 30 to 20 min. And 2026's will do likewise for Mernda and most of Hurstbridge.
Most notable is the unresolved 30 minute weeknight service on the Burnley group, even on the busy City - Ringwood corridor which will have a 10 minute service on weeknights. Such a 3:1 disparity doesn't make sense. Especially when midday disparities are the other way around (ie weekends are more frequent). Geelong and Melton's hourly weekend evening frequencies are also notable.
Conclusion
Thanks to these budget initiatives 2026-2027 is poised to be a very productive 2 years or so for train service frequencies. The best for decades in fact. May this continue with the remaining 30 and 40 minute gaps also resolved in due course.
The busy Ringwood line fares poorly in this round of announcements:
ReplyDelete- Weekdays interpeak - every 15 mins (no change)
- Weekday evenings - every 10 mins* (up from 15 mins before 10pm / 30 mins late night)
- Weekend evenings - every 30 mins (no change)
- Sunday mornings - every 30 mins (no change)
* - as confirmed in the premier's media release - www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-trains-and-more-services-and-pt-cheaper-all-year
Weekend services on almost every other line will have minimum 20 minute waits on weekends by this time next year.
There does appear to be a lack of planning by Transport Victoria & Metro Trains. Presumably they haven't been announce a more comprehensive upgrade for the Burnley Group at this time as they need to increase the number of drivers first? Perhaps more to come in the 2027 or 2028 budgets?
A complete rewrite of the peak hour stopping patterns to Ringwood is also long overdue.
On the other hand the 10 min weeknight service that Ringwood will get is a huge step up. Strange though in that weekend evening frequency will be just one-third that. Whereas on weekend daytimes the service is better than weekday daytimes.
DeleteAdmittedly fixing the weekday daytime timetable is a big piece of work (with some trade-offs). It would have been a lower priority than developing the Metro Tunnel timetable. But these announcements do indicate some welcome government interest and responsiveness to fixing Burnley group train frequencies.
Great maps, thanks! I am confused by the final sat-sun evening map - if it's 30 minutes to Lilydale and Belgrave wouldn't the line to Ringwood have 15 minute frequencies?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not. At nights they run it so that only every second train goes through to each terminus. With a change at Ringwood for the other terminus. The weekday upgrades will eliminate that for Monday - Friday.
Delete