Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- The electrification of Melbourne's suburban railway network
- In
- Australasian Engineering Heritage Conference: AEHC 2022
- Imprint
- Engineers Australia, Barton, ACT, 2023, pp. 118-133
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.837099198716550
- Subject
- History of Applied Sciences Engineering and Technology
- Abstract
Proposals to electrify Melbourne's extensive suburban railway network were first canvassed in 1896 with several government-initiated assessments in the early years of the twentieth century, including the commissioning of consulting engineer Charles Merz to prepare detailed reports. A decision to proceed was made by the Victorian government in December 1912. Implementation was impacted by the onset of World War 1 which delayed opening of the first electric train service until mid 2019. The electrification project, that involved the establishment of a dedicated power station, pioneered the use of 1500 V DC electric traction for suburban passenger service and used both new and repurposed passenger rolling stock, reached practical completion in 1923. At the time it was claimed to be the largest suburban railway network in the world to be successfully converted from steam locomotive traction to electric traction. The electrification was an immediate success in terms of significantly increasing rail patronage and reducing operating cost. Although there have been several generations of rolling stock and other upgrades over succeeding years, many elements of the original infrastructure remain in service. This paper outlines the feasibility assessments and then examines the engineering aspects of the successful implementation, including the concurrent introduction of automatic electric signalling.
- Source
- cohn 2023
Related Published resources
isPartOf
- Australasian Engineering Heritage Conference: AEHC 2022 (Barton, ACT: Engineers Australia, 2023), 133 pp, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.9781925627695. Details