The Mernda railway line (previously the South Morang line, Epping line and Whittlesea line) is a commuter rail passenger train service in Melbourne, Australia. It operates between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Mernda through the northern suburbs including East Melbourne, Richmond, Abbotsford, Clifton Hill, Fitzroy North, Northcote, Preston, Reservoir, Thomastown, Lalor, Epping, South Morang and Mernda. The service is part of the Public Transport Victoria metropolitan rail network. Services on the line began in 1889 when the section between North Fitzroy (on the now closed Inner Circle line) and Reservoir was opened, which was extended to Whittlesea in the same year. The line was however closed beyond Lalor in November 1959, while the remainder of the line was electrified. The closed section has since been gradually reconstructed and reopened: to Epping in 1964, South Morang in 2012, and to Mernda in August 2018. Services usually operate every 20 minutes during the day and 30 minutes at night in both directions, stopping at all stations. All citybound services operate direct to Flinders Street, then outbound via the City Loop (except early weekend morning services which operate direct to Jolimont). Description The Mernda 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 This curve originally made up the third side of a triangular junction, connecting the two original branches from the now-closed North Fitzroy station.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 Mernda 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. Infrastructure The line is double track to Mernda (while at Clifton Hill the Hurstbridge Line branches off). The line is controlled by automatic block signalling (ABS) up to Mernda. There are intermediate terminating facilities at Clifton Hill, Bell, Reservoir, Keon Park, Epping and South Morang. Stabling facilities are provided at Epping (which is also the location of a repair centre)