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
July 2025
Sat 12th			0522 VL357								1931 VL357
Fri 11th			0437 VL357			1116 VL351					2000 VL357			2332 VL351
Thu 10th			0553 VL357			1130 VL351					2003 VL357			2305 VL351
Wed 9th							1328 VL351						2111 VL357	2341 VL351
Tue 8th							1329 VL351						2108 VL357
Mon 7th			0551 VL357			1118 VL351					2012 VL357
Sun 6th			0455 VL357			1200 VL351					1926 VL357			2314 VL351
Sat 5th			0624 VL357			1208 VL351					1929 VL357			2309 VL351
Fri 4th							1317 VL351				2002 VL357			2254 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Thu 3rd							1327 VL351						2112 VL357
Wed 2nd							1333 VL351						2121 VL357
Tue 1st			0551 VL357			1112 VL351					2011 VL357
June 2025
Mon 30th										1929 VL351
Sun 29th	No trains recorded
Sat 28th	No trains recorded
Fri 27th											2002 VL353
Thu 26th		0026 G512			1117 G512	1110 VL360					2009 VL353
Wed 25th					1032 G512
Tue 24th											2008 VL353
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Mon 23rd					1037 G512	1139 VL356					2001 VL357
Sun 22nd						1150 VL356					1831 VL357
Sat 21st			0628 VL353			1241 VL356					1920 VL357
Fri 20th						1120 VL356					2007 VL357			2326 VL360
Thu 19th		0043 G512			1039 G512		1332 VL356				2001 VL357			2341 VL360
Wed 18th		0022 G512			1041 G512		1329 G515						2139 VL353
Tue 17th		0014 G512			1045 G512		1328 VL356						2113 VL357
Mon 16th		0412 G512			1049 G512		1323 VL356						2112 VL357
Sun 15th	No trains recorded
Sat 14th	No trains recorded
Fri 13th		0449 G512			1034 G512		1343 VL356	1340 G515			2000 VL357
Thu 12th						1131 VL356		1349 G515				2021 G515	2111 VL357	2351 VL356
Wed 11th					1041 G532		1326 VL356	1351 G515				2021 G512	2108 VL357
Tue 10th			0553 VL357			1140 VL356		1439 G515				2023 VL351
Mon 9th			0625 VL357			1138 VL356					1927 VL357	2022 VL351		2334 VL356
Sun 8th			0545 VL357			1154 VL356					1926 VL357			2306 VL356
Sat 7th			0548 VL357			1212 VL356					1930 VL357			2302 VL356
Fri 6th			0612 VL357			1139 VL356					2013 VL357	2047 VL351		2254 VL356
Thu 5th			0612 VL357			1134 VL356					2002 VL357	2115 VL351		2251 VL356
Wed 4th			0602 VL357			1120 VL356		1411 G515			1959 VL357			2333 VL356
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Tue 3rd			0606 VL357			1110 VL356					2014 VL357			2255 VL356
Mon 2nd			0552 VL357		1047 G512	1120 VL356		1359 G515			2005 VL357	0348 VL351		2323 VL356
Sun 1st			0551 VL357			1206 VL356					2026 VL357			0000 VL356
May 2025
Sat 31st			0626 VL357			1148 VL356					1927 VL357			2354 VL356
Fri 30th			0551 VL357			1120 VL356		1347 VL353			2042 VL357	2058 VL351		0031 VL356
Thu 29th		0440 G512	0547 G532		1043 G512	1126 VL356					2003 VL357			2328 VL356
Wed 28th		0417 G512	0553 G532		1043 G512	1125 VL360		1349 VL353			2003 G532			2330 VL360
Tue 27th		0425 G512	0553 G532		1041 G512	1133 VL360							2113 G532	2343 VL360
Mon 26th					1041 G512			1400 VL353				0333 VL351		2330 VL360
Sun 25th												0341 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sat 24th	No trains recorded
Fri 23rd								1349 G532
Thu 22nd					1038 G512			1459 VL357
Wed 21st					1049 G512			1349 VL357				0348 VL351
Tue 20th					1040 G532		1322 G515	1350 VL357				0410 VL351
Mon 19th							1340 VL356	1528 VL357				0332 VL351
Sun 18th	No trains recorded
Sat 17th	No trains recorded
Fri 16th			0557 VL353			1117 VL356		1359 VL357				2112 VL351
Thu 15th		0015 G532	0610 VL353		1039 G532	1147 VL356					2001 VL353			2300 VL356
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Wed 14th			0551 VL353			1151 VL356		1349 VL357			2010 VL353			2308 VL356
Tue 13th		0019 G532	0531 VL353		1041 G532	1108 VL356					2002 VL353			2325 VL356
Mon 12th			0554 VL353		1039 G532	1122 VL356		1349 VL357			2326 VL353	0407 VL351		2325 VL356

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 )