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Australia's second largest city has some 3.3 million inhabitants. The rapid rail system serving the Melbourne is actually not a metro or subway service in the classical sense but a frequent suburban train service which runs in a 4-track underground loop in the centre of Melbourne. Routes are bundled in the central area and offer a metro-like service with trains every few minutes. Line concession was given to two companies which operate them as Connex Melbourne (formerly Hillside Trains - Epping, Hurstbridge, Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley Lines) and Bayside Trains (other lines, becoming M>Trains). It depends on the time of the day whether trains run around the city loop clockwise or anti-clockwise. Sandringham trains leave from Flinders Street station without running the loop.

Apart from the metropolitan trains, Melbourne has the largest tram network outside Europe with more than 100 km of urban and suburban lines.

Photos by kind permission © David Johnson

1984 - City Loop completed with 3 underground stations: Parliament, Melbourne Central, Flagstaff

 Projects

- OPERATION

4:30 - 24:00, Sun 7:30 - 24:00, every 10-20 minutes on all branches, every few minutes on city loop and bundled lines.

- FARES (2002)

Fares are according to the zones travelled through. Prices shown here are for Zone 1 only (all stations shown on the map above are in Zone 1) and valid from Feb. 2002:

2-Hour Ticket - $2.60

Daily Ticket - $5.10

Weekly Pass - $22.20

Monthly Pass - $83.30

Yearly Pass - $897.00

All tickets (MetCards) are valid on buses, trams and metropolitan trains.

VicTrip - Victoria's Official Public Transport Home Page

M> Trains

Connex Melbourne

MetCard - Details on Melbourne's Fare System

City Circle Tram