Doncaster railway line

The Doncaster railway line was a long-proposed suburban railway in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that was anticipated to be built by the late 2020s, as a branch, along with the Hurstbridge line, of the planned future Clifton Hill Loop Line, as part of the 2013 PTV Network Development Plan.

The Doncaster line would have primarily served the suburbs of Bulleen, Balwyn North, Kew, Templestowe and Doncaster, running along the median strip of the Eastern Freeway for most of its length.

First proposed in 1890, detailed planning commenced in 1969 and, by 1972, the route had been decided upon. Despite rising costs, the state governments of the period continued to give assurances that the line would be built. Property acquisition for part of the route was completed in 1975, and construction of a cutting at the city end commenced in 1974, only to be filled in two years later.^: 42 By 1982, plans to build the line had been shelved by the state government and, in 1984, land reserved for the line once it left the freeway was sold by the Cain Labor government.^: 42 In 1991, an independent report investigated constructing the line, recommending against it due to the high cost. However several other reports released since the 1970s noted the requirement for heavy rail mass transit in the Doncaster corridor.

The Doncaster rail line plan is almost identical to the Yanchep line, completed in 1992, and the Mandurah line, completed in 2007, both in Perth, a city with less than half the population of Melbourne. The Mandurah line runs along the centre median of the Kwinana Freeway and through various tunnels. It is almost double the length of the proposed Doncaster line and cost $1.6 billion. Trains can to travel on those lines at up to 130 km/h.

As a result of the construction proposed North East Link toll road road project, part of the median of the Eastern Freeway will be removed to increase the number of traffic lanes, and add a new busway alongside the freeway. As a result, a rail line to Doncaster along the middle of the Eastern Freeway will become virtually impossible to build, barring a conversion of the busway. A train service through Doncaster is proposed as part of the northern section of the planned Suburban Rail Loop.