How to read this visualisation
This visualisation shows how often trains ran across Melbourne's train network at
various haphazardly chosen points in time, from the 1930s to today.
It's intended to paint a representative picture of
service patterns on each line. For fully comprehensive details, please consult the
timetables themselves.
The table shows how often trains arrive in the City from a particular line or station
before 1pm (the cutoff time is 11am for pre-1980 Saturday timetables). After that time, it shows how often trains depart the City for that station.
The time of arrival/departure is measured at the "city cordon" station (Jolimont, Richmond or
North Melbourne), except for pre-1980s timetables, when service frequency is measured at Flinders Street or
Princes Bridge, and V/Line services, where it is measured at Spencer Street/Southern Cross.
Shuttle services are measured according to the time their connecting service
to/from the City stops at the relevant "city cordon" station.
The service frequencies shown in this visualisation are approximate only, rounded to the nearest time interval.
It is challenging to determine the exact service frequency when:
- Gaps between services are inconsistent (e.g. a 3-minute gap is followed by a 12-minute gap, then a 7-minute gap, and so on)
- There is a mixture of express and stopping-all-stations trains that take different amounts of time to reach their destination
In these cases I have made a human judgment about which frequency band best
reflects the service frequency experienced by passengers.