Map M2 - Central Victoria and Port Phillip Bay
This area is long-distance commuter country. Trains are operated principally by V/Line. It is easily possible to make day-trips by train from Melbourne to anywhere on this map. All services are relatively high speed and efficient, with numerous services being offered every day. All trains are either locomotive hauled or operated by modern diesel railcars and because of the shorter distances, they generally offer only economy class travel and do not have buffet services, but all are air-conditioned and heated and are quite comfortable. All V/Line services operate to and from Melbourne's Southern Cross station. V/Line trains run South-west from Melbourne to and from Geelong, South Geelong and Marshall (and Beyond to Warrnambool), West to Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat (and beyond to Ararat), North-west to Sunbury, Kyneton and Bendigo (and beyond to Swan Hill and Echuca), North to Seymour (and beyond to Shepparton and Albury) and South-East to Traralgon (and beyond to Sale and Bairnsdale). Many V/Line trains in this region are operated by V/Locity railcars which are the newest and fastest trains in Australia. In addition to V/Line, Diesel-hauled trains are operated every 2 hours in the south by Connex between Frankston and Stony Point connecting with suburban electric trains at Frankston in the north and ferries to French Island and Phillip Island at Stony Point. There are many tourist railways in this region. The most famous and Australia's first tourist railway is "Puffing Billy" which every day runs an intensive narrow-gauge steam-hauled railway between Belgrave and Gembrook through wonderfully scenic temperate rainforest country to the east of Melbourne. The South Gippsland Railway run regular Sunday historic railcar services between Nyora, Korumburra and Leongatha in the south-east. The Mornington Peninsula Railway, which runs only on occasional weekends, operate steam or diesel hauled trains between Moorooduc and Mornington in the south. The Bellarine Peninsula Railway regularly operate Sunday steam and diesel railcar services from Queenscliff to Laker's Siding and Drysdale. In the west at Haddon is the Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Society who have a museum of ex-Melbourne trams. This is not normally open to the public however. In the suburbs of Ballarat is a tiny fragment of that city's former tramway network now operated by the Ballarat Tramway Museum on weekends offering rides on historic electric trams. The Victorian Goldfields Railway operate steam trains between Castlemaine and Maldon connecting at Castlemaine with V/Line trains to and from Melbourne. The Daylesford Spa Country Railway operate railcars over a section of former branch line between Daylesford, Musk and Bullarto on Sundays. A printer-friendly version of this map in pdf format can be downloaded by clicking here.
Large Scale Bus, Ferry and Rail mapTo view a larger scale train, ferry and bus map covering the same area as the map on this page, click here.
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