The Sandringham line is a suburban electrified railway that serves Melbourne’s south east bayside suburbs. It forms part of the Metropolitan Train Network, sharing tracks between Flinders Street and Richmond Junction with the Belgrave, Lilydale, Pakenham, and Frankston lines. The line is double track throughout its length and features an emergency crossover at Elsternwick, where it also formerly intersected with the Rosstown Railway from Oakleigh.
The Sandringham Line is operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, which offers services every 20 minutes during the week and 30 minutes on weekends. The trip takes around 30 min and tickets cost $3.
On the Sandringham Line, passengers can expect to find Siemens Nexas electric multiple unit trains in a two three-car configuration that can accommodate up to 432 seated passengers. These are a common type of train on the entire Met network, and many other cities use similar models.
In the event of a disruption, Metro advises travellers to plan their journey well in advance and check live arrival times before heading to the station. It’s possible to catch a replacement bus between Caulfield and Moorabbin, as well as along the Pakenham & Cranbourne lines to Melbourne Arts Centre or Mordialloc.
The line also has the only remaining set of hand operated railway gates in the Metro Trains area, with this photo taken on Feb. 7 1989 during a severe storm, showing an up Sandringham train approaching Windsor. It’s interesting to note that this photo is still using 2 position signals and was taken prior to July 1926, when the new 3 position signalling was commisioned between Elsternwick & Brighton Beach.
