PMI Victorian History Library

Melbourne’s Great Metropolitan Railways – With A Nod Over The Border A little over one hundred years ago, Australia’s first electrified suburban railways commenced operations. Melbourne led the way when electric trains ran between Essendon and Sandringham on 28 May 1919. Sydney followed suit seven years later when its first electric train ran between Central and Oatley on 1 March 1926. Within the year, Sydney’s electric trains also ran into Australia’s first underground railway. Melbourne’s Great Metropolitan Railways celebrates the birth and development of Melbourne’s electric railways from the Federation of Australia into the new Millennium, through good times and bad, with a nod across the border and elsewhere. It tells how railway electrification was the nation building enterprise of the early 20th Century. It shows how these railways became Melbourne’s public transport backbone. Bookings are essential with a gold coin for entry.