Whittlesea railway line

South Morang
Overview
Type	Melbourne suburban service
System	Metro Trains Melbourne
Connecting lines	Hurstbridge line
Former connections	Inner Circle and Whittlesea lines
Stations	21
Services	Most services stops all stations and run clockwise through the City Loop. A small number of express services run during peak. Weekend early morning services don't run through the City Loop.
Operation
Commenced	1889
Completed	1901
Rolling stock	Comeng, X'Trapolis
Technical
Line length	24.7 km (15.3 mi)
Number of tracks	Double track

The South Morang railway line is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia. It branches from the City Loop in the central business district and heads north. The line travels though the northern suburbs of Melbourne, and once extended to the country town of Whittlesea. The line has 21 stations in PTV ticketing Zones 1 and 2. Prior to the line extension to South Morang, the line was known as the Epping railway line.

The South Morang line travels almost due north, traversing gently rising land. It has few curves, few significant grades, and little in the way of earthworks, other than a cutting near Northcote. It has numerous level crossings, and only a few bridges over or under roads. Despite the otherwise fairly straight line, it does include Melbourne's sharpest railway curve, between Rushall and Merri. This curve originally made up the third side of a triangular junction, connecting the two original branches from the now-closed North Fitzroy station. Only this third leg of the triangle remains. The entire line runs through built-up areas of Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Following the late 2011 Epping line works, all stations along the South Morang line, excluding the City Loop, have two platforms, one for each direction. This includes all stations along the section between Clifton Hill and Jolimont, which is shared with the Hurstbridge line.

The line is double track to South Morang. The line is controlled by automatic block signalling (ABS) up to South Morang. There are intermediate terminating facilities at Bell, Keon Park and Epping. Stabling facilities are provided at Epping, which is also the location of a repair centre.

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