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The commissioning of a new passing lane north of Melbourne this month will bring improved
flexibility to interstate rail services operating between Melbourne and Sydney, Australian Rail
Track Corporation acting Executive General Manager Interstate, Tony Frazer said today.
Commissioning works for the 6.8 kilometre, Passing Lane 1 between Keilor East and
Donnybrook (also known as the Tullamarine Loop) will take place between 10 and 21 May.
Commissioning includes the final installation of track circuitry and signalling control systems
as well as testing and certification of the signalling systems required to enter the loop into
service.
“It’s great to be commissioning new rail infrastructure that will help further enhance the
productivity and efficiency of rail services operating between Melbourne and Sydney,” Mr
Frazer said.
“The passing lane will bring much greater flexibility to the operation of all train services out of
the busy Melbourne metropolitan area, allowing our network controllers greater room to path
trains and arrange passing opportunities in and out of Melbourne for our freight and
passenger customers.
“Unfortunately, there will be some unavoidable delays and changes to some services during
the two week period as a result of this work, to allow testing to take place and the new
passing lane to be entered into service,” Mr Frazer said.
“We are working hard to minimise impacts as much as possible and would like to thank
passengers on regional services for their patience while these important works take place as
we recognise they are an inconvenience.
“We would also like to ask regional train passengers travelling between Melbourne and
Albury to plan ahead and check their train schedules to ensure they know if any changes or
delays due to the works affect them,” Mr Frazer said.
During the same period further ballast rehabilitation works will continue with ballast sledding
and track lifting and tamping occurring on the West track between Seymour and Wodonga.
Works will also take place during the next three weeks to activate and open a new, protected
pedestrian level crossing between Arundel and Muntz Avenues in Glenroy, North Melbourne.
For information on impact to passenger services, customers should visit:
www.sydneytrains.info or www.nswtrains.info