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
October 2025
Mon 6th						1126 VL356		1437 VL351			1951 VL353	0353 VL357
Sun 5th	No trains recorded
Sat 4th	No trains recorded
Fri 3rd			0549 VL353				1306 VL356	1452 VL351			2001 VL353	2049 VL357
Thu 2nd		0014 G532	0550 VL353		1051 G532	1201 VL356		1450 VL351			2002 VL353	2026 G515		2334 VL356
Wed 1st			0431 VL353			1201 VL356		1444 G512			2001 VL353	2038 G515		2334 VL356
September 2025
Tue 30th			0551 VL353			1157 VL356		1448 G512			2000 VL353	2202 G515		2319 VL356
Mon 29th								1448 G512			2003 VL353	2052 VL357		0006 VL356
Sun 28th						1217 VL356
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sat 27th	No trains recorded
Fri 26th						1153 VL356					1925 VL353	1904 VL357
Thu 25th			0606 G515			1142 G515		1453 VL353			1953 VL360
Wed 24th			0659 G515			1143 G515		1449 VL356			2317 VL360	2015 VL356		2317 G515
Tue 23rd			0552 G515			1135 G515					2007 G515	2104 VL353		0000 G515
Mon 22nd			0600 G515			1159 VL353		1529 G512			2008 G515	2026 VL356		2329 VL353
Sun 21st			0601 VL360			1159 VL353					1923 VL360			2333 VL353
Sat 20th														2338 VL353
Fri 19th		2317 G532			1100 G532		1324 VL353	1449 G512			2010 VL351	2151 VL356
Thu 18th						1138 VL357		1530 G512
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Wed 17th						1128 VL357						2158 VL356
Tue 16th			0550 VL360			1211 VL357					2001 VL360
Mon 15th						1117 VL357		1447 G515			2006 VL360	2018 VL356		2315 VL357
Sun 14th	No trains recorded
Sat 13th	No trains recorded
Fri 12th			0604 VL360				1307 VL357	1347 G515			2000 VL360	2018 VL356
Thu 11th			0625 VL360				1312 VL357				2010 VL360			2314 VL357
Wed 10th			0601 VL360			1147 VL357		1402 G515			1959 VL360	0400 VL356		2356 VL357
Tue 9th	No trains recorded
Mon 8th			0507 VL360			1145 VL353		1350 G515			1959 VL360	0415 VL356
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Sun 7th			0543 VL360			1224 VL353						0302 VL356
Sat 6th			0543 VL360			1208 VL353					1924 VL360			2337 VL353
Fri 5th			0549 VL360			1155 VL353					1958 VL360			2330 VL353
Thu 4th						1126 VL353					1959 VL360			2331 VL353
Wed 3rd							1323 VL353				2000 VL360
Tue 2nd	No trains recorded
Mon 1st			0442 VL360			1144 VL353					1953 VL360
August 2025
Sun 31st			0611 VL360			1223 VL356								2302 VL353
Sat 30th			0525 VL351			1323 VL357					1932 G515			0007 VL353
Fri 29th							1350 VL357	1343 VL360					2135 VL351	2348 VL357
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Thu 28th								1347 VL360				2008 VL353
Wed 27th								1351 VL351				2018 VL353
Tue 26th	No trains recorded
Mon 25th								1348 VL360				2022 VL357
Sun 24th	No trains recorded
Sat 23rd	No trains recorded
Fri 22nd	No trains recorded
Thu 21st								1357 VL351				2018 VL353
Wed 20th	No trains recorded
Tue 19th	No trains recorded
Mon 18th			0552 VL360			1201 VL353						2016 G512	2008 VL360
Sun 17th			0506 VL360			1214 VL353					1821 VL360			2311 VL353
Sat 16th			0540 VL360			1158 VL353					1935 VL360			2326 VL353
Fri 15th			0437 G512			1133 VL353		1348 VL351			2003 VL360	2027 VL357		2345 VL353
Thu 14th			0550 VL360					1349 VL351				2034 VL357		2335 G512
Wed 13th			0559 VL360			1140 VL357					2000 VL351	0339 VL357		2329 VL353
Tue 12th			0552 VL360			1126 VL353					2010 VL360			2320 VL353
Mon 11th			0600 VL360			1125 VL353					2001 VL360			2331 VL353
Sun 10th						1106 VL353					1921 VL360			2347 VL353
Sat 9th			0618 VL360			1148 VL353					1933 VL360			2328 VL353
Date	9550	9348	9552	9571	9343	9553	9557	9476	9572	9559	9556	9475	9558	9555	7088
Fri 8th			0553 VL360			1110 VL353					2005 VL360			2327 VL353
Thu 7th							1309 VL353						2110 VL360	0003 VL353

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 )