#Metro trains Melbourne

[metrotrainsmelbourne]

When you're in a train station and you feel the ground rumbling beneath your feet. That's the trains purring :)

[its-ya-girl-phoeni]

Fellas, just remember to never:

Set fire to your hair

Poke a stick at a grizzly bear

Eat medicine that's out of date

Use your private parts as piranha bait

Get your toast out with a fork

Do your own electrical work

Teach yourself how to fly

Eat a two-week old unrefrigerated pie

Invite a psycho killer inside

Scratch a drug dealer's brand new ride

Take your helmet off in outer space

Use a clothes dryer as a hiding place

Keep a rattlesnake as a pet

Sell both your kidneys on the internet

Eat a tube of superglue

Wonder what that red button would do

Dress up like a moose during hunting season

Disturb a nest of wasps for no good reason

Stand on the edge of a train station platform

Drive around the boom gates at a level crossing

Run across the tracks between the platforms

[siobhanstrains]

Fun fact!

Both Melbourne and Sydney have "red rattlers"

By Trainsandtech - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65367379

By Matthew DAVALLE - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116280829

As you can see they are not the same train! In fact, Melbourne's electrification scheme was earlier than Sydney's by a good couple years, with the beginnings happening before the First World War.

The first electric train service in Melbourne was on May 28 1919, and the first in Sydney was on 9 December 1926. (This may be wrong)

I find it interesting that they have ending up with the same name over the many years that these trains were in service.

Officially, the "Red Rattlers" of Sydney were several types of single deck EMUs that were a mix of wooden and steel body.

Sidenote: I don't really know much about Sydney trains so any extra info would be awesome!

The "Red Rattlers" of Melbourne were specifically the Swing Door and Sliding Door classifications, with the Sliding Doors becoming Tait trains, and the Swingdoors getting merged into one word.

[earlgreybot]

A long Introduction to Metro Trains Melbourne

I've organised some of my favourite YouTube videos about Metro Trains Melbourne into a 3hr explainer series. This covers, roughly in order:

A description of the network, especially the City Loop

Why, where and how the new Metro Tunnel is being built

A general explanation of tunnel construction

What TBM operators do

TBM assembly, tours, function and disassembly (focusing on the Metro Tunnel)

The new State Library and Arden Stations

Road headers and their history in the Melbourne Train Network

Creating and testing the metro tunnel tracks and communications infrastructure

Platform Screen Doors

Fixed Block Train Signalling in Australia (focusing on Melbourne)

How CBTC signalling works and its introduction to Melbourne

[heavygyroscope]

Melbourne 2022

[snappingthewalls]

[tamgarat746]

[s2z]

Riding the rails

The journey starts in Sunshine, crammed into the well-worn bones of an X’Trapolis, Melbourne’s stalwart soldier of the rail. It’s old-school—still does the job, still rocks with the rattle and hum of thousands of passengers every day, and today, every inch of it is packed. You’re shoulder-to-shoulder with workers, students, city-dwellers, all of them swaying in a jumbled rhythm as the train barrels toward the CBD. This isn’t some smooth glide; it’s a raw, communal push forward, the X’Trapolis clanking along, air thick with murmured conversations and the smell of early-morning takeaway coffee. Here, space is a commodity, and every seat and handrail is precious real estate.

The city is a mad scramble, as always. People disembark in waves, pouring out at each stop, only to be replaced by new faces rushing in. It’s chaos, a sort of metallic bloodstream pulsing with life. The X’Trapolis is all utility, no frills—nicks in the seats, squeaky doors, overhead announcements that crackle with half-hearted vigour. It feels lived in, real. And by the time you reach the CBD, the X’Trapolis is heaving, unloading its cargo of commuters, every one of them on a tight timeline.

You make the switch to the HCMT at Flinders Street. Now, this is a different beast. The High Capacity Metro Train was engineered to be the future, but right now, that future is nearly deserted. You step onto it, expecting another packed car, but instead, you’re greeted by a sprawl of empty seats. Maybe a couple of fellow travellers here and there, but mostly it’s quiet, empty. The HCMT is like stepping into an echo chamber, a sleek, minimalist marvel waiting for a crowd that never showed up.

Leaving the CBD, the HCMT slides through the stations and suburbs, its polished metal sheen looking almost out of place in the quieter stretches. The seats sit pristine, untouched, waiting for the full force of rush hour that, out here, never arrives. You can hear the electric hum of the tracks, every automated announcement crystal clear in the emptiness. It’s clinical, like a sterile experiment in high-speed solitude. This train was built for mass transit, but out here, you’re cruising through Melbourne’s edge like it’s some private charter.

Beyond the sprawl of the CBD, the suburbs stretch out under the morning sun, fading into the skeletal outliers on the way to East Pakenham. The HCMT barrels ahead, past stations with pristine platforms and empty benches, past new estates and construction sites, the occasional half-built house standing like a sentinel on the horizon. Inside, the quiet feels heavier by the minute, that futuristic aesthetic almost absurd in its isolation. Every line, every polished edge is all about efficiency and speed, but in this emptiness, it’s surreal, like being chauffeured through an unfinished dream.

By the time you pull into East Pakenham, the HCMT feels like it’s barely broken a sweat. This thing was built to handle Melbourne at full capacity, but right now, it’s overkill—like bringing a spaceship to a go-kart race. You step off, back onto solid ground, watching as the train idles, gleaming, ready for the rush that isn’t here yet. It’s a strange, quiet end to the ride, a taste of a future that’s still waiting for the city to catch up.

[hellfiremodels]

productive day today

[vogelmeister]

just caught the new metro. it reminds me of both the noord-zuid-lijn in amsterdam and the singapore mrt

[metrotrainsmelbourne]

I passed by this guy when I was on the train yesterday! Forgive me for the through-the-fence photos, I got very excited!

[pip-bip]

Hughesdale train station illuminated designation code sign at night 5 April 2024

[siobhanstrains]

I reckon that using standard gauge for all regional services would just make everything cheaper in the long term. Aren't most trains that are still in service designed for standardisation anyway?

Hell, I think they should do it to all the metropolitan Melbourne services too. The LXR project could've been a prime oppurtunity to standardise imo.

[public-transport-victoria]

[nostalgia94]

Brighton - Northern Ward

[glasseswearingrabbitdetective]

I’m still sick; weather is cold, wet and windy…

There is hope tho-! Due to works being done on trainline, there’s only trains going up not down- I’m going up! The train is here 12 min early bc it never left anywhere 😂 bless! 🙏 it’s so warm~ got the entire carriage to myself too haha