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
March 2025
Tue 25th			0600 VL353
Mon 24th						1126 VL351					2002 VL353			2328 VL351
Sun 23rd	No trains recorded
Sat 22nd	No trains recorded
Fri 21st							1331 VL360				2004 VL353
Thu 20th								1400 VL357					2121 VL353
Wed 19th							1332 VL360						2112 VL353
Tue 18th					1032 G532		1342 VL360	1410 VL357				0425 G515	2110 VL353
Mon 17th							1327 VL360						2112 VL353
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sun 16th			0452 VL353									0424 G512
Sat 15th			0453 VL353			1203 VL360					1925 VL353			2310 VL360
Fri 14th		2052 G532			1036 G532			1348 VL357						2241 VL360
Thu 13th			0601 VL353			1136 VL351		1348 VL357			1958 VL353	2025 VL356
Wed 12th								1353 VL357				2022 VL356		2240 VL351
Tue 11th			0551 VL353			1154 VL351		1345 VL356			1959 VL353	2021 VL356
Mon 10th			0409 VL353			1134 VL351					1932 VL353			2252 VL351
Sun 9th			0416 VL353			1207 VL351					1927 VL353			2240 VL351
Sat 8th			0511 VL353			1138 VL351					1938 VL353			2300 VL351
Fri 7th		0043 G532	0600 VL353		1208 G532	1128 VL351		1347 VL356			1959 VL353	2018 VL357		2344 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Thu 6th			0559 VL353			1118 VL351					2000 VL353	2019 VL357		2321 VL351
Wed 5th			0559 VL353			1120 VL351		1400 VL356			1959 VL353			2329 VL351
Tue 4th			0601 VL353			1127 VL351		1413 VL356			2336 VL353	2039 VL357		2336 VL351
Mon 3rd													2121 VL353	2356 VL351
Sun 2nd												0302 VL357
February 2025
Sat 1st	No trains recorded
Fri 28th		1023 G532			1934 G532		1331 VL357	1408 VL353			2009 VL356
Thu 27th							1330 VL357				1942 VL356	2008 VL351
Wed 26th								1349 VL353
Tue 25th					1039 G532		1330 VL351				2001 VL356
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Mon 24th							1311 VL351
Sun 23rd	No trains recorded
Sat 22nd	No trains recorded
Fri 21st		0028 G532	0353 VL356		1047 G532			1349 VL360
Thu 20th			0552 VL356			1139 VL351					2002 VL356			2258 VL351
Wed 19th			0550 VL357								1922 VL356			2226 VL351
Tue 18th			0600 VL357			1200 VL356					1959 VL357			2321 VL356
Mon 17th			0553 VL357				1326 VL351				2001 VL357			2224 VL351
Sun 16th			0252 VL357											2235 VL351
Sat 15th			0542 VL357			1122 VL351					1933 VL357			2215 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Fri 14th			0553 VL357			1139 VL351					2000 VL357			2314 VL351
Thu 13th							1344 VL351				2000 VL357			2251 VL351
Wed 12th							1341 VL351				2001 VL357
Tue 11th							1346 VL351						2130 VL357
Mon 10th			0511 VL357		1037 G532	1126 VL351					2003 VL357
Sun 9th		2349 G532	0541 VL357			1157 VL351					2146 VL357			2341 VL351
Sat 8th			0621 VL357			1203 VL351					1930 VL357			2343 VL351
Fri 7th		0426 G532	0600 VL357		1038 G532	1114 VL351					2001 VL357			2346 VL351
Thu 6th		0442 VL356 G532	0600 VL357		1039 G515	1132 VL351					2008 VL357			2325 VL351
Wed 5th			0542 VL357			1107 VL351					2004 VL357			2327 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Tue 4th			0603 VL357			1131 VL351					2002 VL357			2331 VL351
Mon 3rd					1310 G515								2115 VL357	2344 VL351
January 2025
Sun 2nd	No trains recorded
Sat 1st	No trains recorded
Fri 31st			0559 VL356		1120 G512	1133 VL357					1959 VL356
Thu 30th			0548 VL356		1050 G512	1120 G532					2000 VL356			2244 G532
Wed 29th					1036 G512						2002 VL356			2312 G532
Tue 28th	No trains recorded
Mon 27th			0535 VL356			1217 VL351					1920 VL356			2336 VL351
Sun 26th			0450 VL356			1209 VL351					1926 VL356			2314 VL351
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sat 25th			0523 G532			1207 VL351								2322 VL351

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 )