Melbourne Broad Gauge Freight Trains

Below is a listing of trains sighted taking the viaduct between Southern Cross Station and Flinders Street Station. Trains, as they pass through this area, will (where possible) be recorded in the table below. The times indicate when they pass through, not when they arrive. Sometimes the trains sit in this area waiting for a path in either direction!

Service	Frequency	Description
9343/9348 QUBE Apex Gravel Service	Tue - Fri	Runs from Kilmore East Quarry to Westall Cement Plant. Usually around midnight on the down and then a 10am up through South Yarra/Richmond/Flinders St. Note that if the morning time is around 4am then it's actually the 9350 service... but I've put them both in the same column.
9571/9572 QUBE Cement Service	Mon & Thu/Fri	Runs from Tottenham(?) to Dandenong. New Service. Very random runner... sometimes mondays instead of tuesdays and sometimes fridays instead of thursdays.
9475/9476 QUBE Maryvale Paper Train	Daily	Runs from Appleton Dock to the Maryvale Paper Plant. Takes paper to be recycled out to plant and returns empty? Heads out at 8pm at night and returns around 2pm the next day. Every so often you'll find the train heading out at around 4am in the morning. This is actually the 9473 service, but I've put it in the same column as the evening down. Note that it means it actually ran the next morning!
955* PacNat Long Island Steel Train	Daily (excl Friday)	Runs from the northernmost road of South Dynon to the Long Island Steel Plant in Frankston. The midday runner 9553 usually DOES NOT run on Fridays unless there's a weekend shutdown and they need to shift more steel beforehand. 9557 (1pm) and 9559 (7pm) are also only as-required! The actual service pairing is as follows: 9555-9552, 9553-9556, 9557-9558, 9559-9550
708, 9*2 Possible Metro Train Transfer	Totally Ad-Hoc	Currently serviced by SSR, this might be the HCMT Metro Train Transfer path from Newport to Pakenham. It's totally random and the train running this path may not actually be a transfer! Please note that I've merged services 7080, 7082, 7084, 7086 and 7088, 9502, 9902 into once cell. Spoil trains and driver training runs will also fall into this path.

2022 NOTE: QUBE has taken over the PacNat Steel Services.. the numbers have changed. They've been piped into the PacNat slots and are showing below. Once they've stabilised, I'll explain them further.

Please note that this is an automated service based on sightings from another location. It wont be 100% foolproof but, with careful consideration of the numbers and days, one should be able to get a good idea as to what is visible and when. Also note that services might show up out-of-order. For example, the Apex gravel ran in a much later slot on 30/31st January 2020.

Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
January 2025
Tue 21st			0410 VL356
Mon 20th			0330 VL356			1150 VL351					2003 VL356			2308 VL351
Sun 19th			0351 VL356			1133 VL351					1720 VL356			2300 VL351
Sat 18th			0452 VL356			1133 VL351					1746 VL356			2307 VL351
Fri 17th		0018 G512	0559 VL356		1039 G512	1109 VL351					2002 VL356			2307 VL351
Thu 16th		0024 G512	0603 VL356		1041 G512	1126 VL351		1430 VL360			2000 VL356			2353 VL351
Wed 15th			0448 VL356			1148 VL351					1955 VL356			0002 VL351
Tue 14th		0622 G512	0252 VL356			1126 VL351					2001 G515	2023 VL357		2345 VL351
Mon 13th			0310 VL356			1129 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sun 12th			0538 VL353			1157 G515
Sat 11th			0523 VL353			1202 G515								2349 G515
Fri 10th			0345 VL353			1126 G515		1348 VL356			2010 G515	2053 VL351		2340 G515
Thu 9th			0551 VL356			1123 G515		1441 G512				2047 VL351
Wed 8th			0550 VL356			1127 VL351					2003 VL356			2318 VL351
Tue 7th			0423 VL356			1113 VL351		1356 G512			2002 VL356	2024 VL360		2327 VL351
Mon 6th			0554 VL351			1106 VL351		1348 G512			1959 VL356	2047 VL360		2309 VL351
Sun 5th			0539 VL351			1155 G532					1926 VL351			2256 G532
Sat 4th			0539 VL351			1147 G532
Fri 3rd			0553 VL356			1100 G532		1351 G512			2001 VL356	2028 G515		2309 G532
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Thu 2nd							1343 G532	1407 G515			1952 VL356
December 2024
Wed 1st	No trains recorded
Tue 31st			0552 VL356			1100 VL357					2000 VL356	2011 G512
Mon 30th			0406 VL356			1109 VL357		1408 VL351			1947 VL356	2029 G512		2248 VL357
Sun 29th			0457 VL356											2249 VL357
Sat 28th														2235 VL357
Fri 27th								1349 VL351				2005 G532
Thu 26th	No trains recorded
Wed 25th	No trains recorded
Tue 24th			0357 VL356			1110 VL357					1958 VL356	2011 G532
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Mon 23rd			0353 VL356			1127 VL357						2026 G532		2246 VL357
Sun 22nd			0512 VL356			1159 VL357					1928 VL356			2233 VL357
Sat 21st			0510 VL356			1233 VL357					1916 VL356
Fri 20th		0029 G532	0550 VL356		1118 G532	1150 VL357		1349 VL360			2003 VL356	2045 G532		2308 VL357
Thu 19th							1326 VL357						2109 VL356	2251 VL357
Wed 18th							1327 VL357	1418 VL360				2028 VL351	2109 VL356
Tue 17th					1053 G512		1349 VL357						2107 VL356
Mon 16th		0405 G512	0549 VL353					1347 VL360				1943 VL351
Sun 15th			0538 VL353			1203 VL357					1928 VL353			2329 VL357
Sat 14th			0618 VL353								1926 VL353			2350 VL357
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Fri 13th			0558 VL353			1128 VL357		1348 VL351			2001 VL353	2018 VL351		2319 VL357
Thu 12th		0018 G515			1309 G515	1100 VL357					2001 VL353			2335 VL357
Wed 11th						1119 VL357	1329 VL357	1404 VL360			2019 VL353
Tue 10th		2320 G515			1217 G515		1342 VL357						2109 VL353
Mon 9th						1111 VL357		1349 VL360			2000 VL353	2023 VL356
Sun 8th			0451 VL353
Sat 7th			0524 VL353			1130 VL357					1926 VL353			2309 VL357
Fri 6th			0550 VL353			1107 VL357		1350 VL360			2013 VL353	2107 VL356		2319 VL357
Thu 5th					1039 G515		1308 VL357						2116 VL353
Wed 4th							1312 VL357	1349 VL356			2000 VL353	0332 VL356
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Tue 3rd		0501 G512			1037 G512		1330 VL357				2004 VL353
Mon 2nd			0407 VL353			1126 VL357		1349 VL351			1959 VL353	0331 VL351
Sun 1st			0435 VL353			1217 VL357					1918 VL353			2307 VL357
November 2024
Sat 30th			0620 VL353			1143 VL357					1821 VL353			2302 VL357
Fri 29th			0600 VL360			1127 VL357		1349 VL351			1959 VL353	2034 VL356		2322 VL357
Thu 28th		0427 G512	0601 VL360		1039 G512	1142 VL357		1340 VL351			2002 VL360	2024 VL356		2319 VL357
Wed 27th			0602 G515				1335 VL357						2113 VL360	2324 VL357
Tue 26th		0406 G512 G532	0604 G515		1039 G512	1150 VL357					2010 G515	0336 G532		2329 VL357
Mon 25th						1130 VL357		1530 VL351			2002 G515			2320 VL357
Sun 24th												0409 G512
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sat 23rd	No trains recorded
Fri 22nd			0554 G515			1209 VL357		1359 VL351			2000 G515
Thu 21st			0553 G515		2029 G532	1142 VL357					2001 G515			2242 VL357
Wed 20th												0341 G512

Comments (11) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Royden
November 28th, 2019 - 08:27

Great Work Steven. Would it be possible to include the HCMT transfers as well?

( REPLY )
- stevenh
  November 28th, 2019 - 08:43
  
  Morning,
  Very good question. Due to the infrequency, there wont be much data… but I can try keep an eye out for them.
  Steven
  
  ( REPLY )
  - Royden
    November 28th, 2019 - 08:49
    
    Ok Thanks. Would be great to know when they are coming through!!
    
    ( REPLY )
    - stevenh
      April 2nd, 2020 - 08:28
      
      I’ve added, based on the historical data, what I think are the transfers.
      I just missed one last night!
      
      ( REPLY )
      - Royden
        April 2nd, 2020 - 18:54
        
        Hello Steven
        Thank you for including this data into the table!!
        Would it be possible to change the destination on the possible metro transfers to include Pakenham as well, just to get the correct information.
        Thanks
        Royden
        
        ( REPLY )
        
        stevenh
        April 2nd, 2020 - 23:30
        
        Ah ha… of course. No point having incorrect information!
        
        ( REPLY )
      - Royden
        April 2nd, 2020 - 19:08
        
        Hello Steven
        Thank you for adding the HCMT transfer data into the table!!
        Royden
        
        ( REPLY )
Royden
November 28th, 2019 - 09:13

Hello Steven,
Can i ask how you receive this data for these trains?
Thanks
Royden

( REPLY )
- stevenh
  December 2nd, 2019 - 14:13
  
  A mixture of sightings from Facebook and other locations.
  
  ( REPLY )
chicane
August 13th, 2020 - 15:14

Great site and record of freight trains, i live near Richmond Station and you have demystified the freight train movements i hear at various times during the day. Cheers

( REPLY )
- stevenh
  August 13th, 2020 - 17:11
  
  chicane,
  Very happy to help!
  
  ( REPLY )