The Geelong–Ballarat railway line is a broad-gauge railway in western Victoria, Australia between the cities of Geelong and Ballarat. Towns on the route include Bannockburn, Lethbridge, Meredith, Elaine and Lal Lal. Major traffic includes general freight from the Mildura line, and grain. History After the railway from Melbourne to Geelong was opened in 1857, agitation soon started in Ballarat for a railway link to serve the rapidly growing gold mining area. The prospectus for the £1,000,000 "Geelong, Ballaarat and North Western Railway Company" (the different spelling "Ballaarat" persisted until the early 1990s) was advertised in January 1854 with the Francis Bell as the engineer. Bell surveyed and designed the line, and lithographed plans were made available with the prospectus. Because private railway companies were unable to raise the necessary capital in London, the Victorian colonial government took over the construction of trunk railway lines to Ballarat and Bendigo. Bell's plans were used as the basis for the current railway alignment by the engineer-in-chief of the Victorian Railways, George Darbyshire. Construction work on the Geelong – Ballarat railway began in 1858 under the supervision of the Victorian Railways engineer Robert Watson, and the official opening occurred on 10 April 1862. The line was built to a high standard, with double track provided throughout, bluestone station buildings at all of the initial stations, a number of bluestone bridges for roads that crossed the line, and the substantial Moorabool Viaduct over the river of the same name. The line remained the only rail route from Ballarat to Melbourne until 1889, when the Melbourne to Ballarat was opened. The Geelong to Ballarat line connected with the Geelong railway at North Geelong station, and when the 'direct line' from Ballarat to Melbourne was opened, it branched off at Warrenheip station. Single-tracking of the Geelong to Ballarat line commenced in 1892, but the majority remained double-tracked until 1934, when the 53-kilometre section from Bannockburn to Warrenheip was singled. In 1913 the Gheringhap–Maroona line was opened, junctioning with the line at Gheringhap. In 1978 passenger services on the line were withdrawn when the 153hp Walker railmotor used to operate them fell into disrepair, and a replacement bus service was introduced. Passenger trains from Ballarat and beyond continued to use the Geelong–Ballarat line as an alternate route to Melbourne until the 1990s, not stopping at any stations along the line. In 1995 the track between North Geelong and