Transport in Melbourne - Rail Freight

Rail Freight

The Port of Melbourne is Australia's largest container and general cargo port. Regular shipping lines operate to around 300 cities around the world and 3200 ships visit the port each year. The Port of Melbourne is located in the inner west of Melbourne, near the junction of the Maribyrnong and Yarra rivers.

On 8 February 2008 the Port Phillip Channel Deepening Project, a dredging project to deepen Melbourne's shipping channels, began.

Melbourne also has an extensive network of railway lines and yards to serve freight traffic. The lines are of two gauges – 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge and 4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, and are not electrified. In the inner western suburbs of the city, freight trains have their own lines to operate upon, but in other areas trains are required to share the tracks with Metro Trains Melbourne and V/Line passenger services. The majority of freight terminals are located in the inner suburbs about the Port of Melbourne, located between the Melbourne CBD and Footscray.

Until the 1980s a number of suburban stations had their own goods yards, with freight trains running over the suburban network, often with the E or L class electric locomotives.