History
The Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company opened the first section of the Albury-Wodonga line, from North Melbourne to Essendon, in 1860. Following its takeover by the Victorian Government in 1867, the line was extended by 1872 to School House Lane on the south side of the Goulburn River near Seymour, and later that year to Seymour and then to Longwood. Benalla, Wangaratta, Springhurst and Wodonga were reached in 1873, connecting with the New South Wales Government Railways at Albury at a break of gauge in 1883.
Construction of a standard gauge track parallel with the broad gauge from Albury to Melbourne commenced in 1959, completing the Sydney-Melbourne railway. The first freight train operated on 3 January 1962, the first passenger train on 16 April.
The line was used by prestige passenger services between the state capitals of Melbourne and Sydney, including the Sydney Limited, Spirit of Progress, Southern Aurora, and Intercapital Daylight; but due to declining patronage they were replaced by the XPT from the 1990s.
Maintaining two parallel railways has drawn criticism, including inefficiencies in maintaining track, operating trains, and duplicated train control centres. By 2001 the State Government announced the conversion of the broad gauge line to standard, but action was stifled due largely to complex leasing arrangements.
In May 2008 it was announced that the line would be upgraded, with the conversion of 200 kilometres of broad gauge track to standard gauge between Seymour and Albury, a 5 km bypass around Wodonga, and upgrades between Melbourne and Seymour including new passing loops. Passenger platforms were to be built on the standard-gauge line, and V/Line locomotives and carriages converted to operate on the line.