The Lilydale railway line is a commuter railway line operating between Flinders Street in the Melbourne central business district and Lilydale through Melbourne's eastern suburbs including Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Camberwell, Canterbury, Surrey Hills, Mont Albert, Box Hill, Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham, Ringwood, Ringwood East, Croydon, Mooroolbark, and Lilydale. It is part of the Melbourne rail network operated by Metro Trains Melbourne. History 19th century The line from Richmond to Hawthorn was opened initially to a temporary terminus at Pic Nic, just short of the Yarra River, in September 1860, and to Hawthorn in April 1861. It was extended to Camberwell in April 1882, then to Lilydale on 1 December of that year by the Commissioner for Railways, Richard Speight. The fare from Melbourne was 3s 6d (First Class) and 2s 6d (Second Class), however a letter-writer to The Age newspaper, 'Cyclops' with the fare to Box Hill being only 9d (First Class) at those prices he expected there to soon be a line of stage coaches waiting to take people from Box Hill and that the cost would effectively be a check on the growth of Lilydale. Duplication from East Richmond to Hawthorn occurred about a week after the Lilydale extension opened, and a fortnight (two weeks) later, the same section was converted to Double Line Block Telegraph safeworking, and the section from Hawthorn to Camberwell had Staff and Ticket working implemented. In May 1885, Hawthorn to Camberwell was duplicated and converted to Double Line Block Telegraph. Duplication was extended to Box Hill in December 1888. 20th century Automatic signalling was introduced from December 1907 with the conversion of the section from East Richmond to Hawthorn to semi-automatic signalling, followed by Richmond to East Richmond being converted to automatic signalling in August 1919, East Richmond to Camberwell in two stages both in October 1922, and Camberwell to Canterbury the following month. Electrification took place between Flinders Street and Box Hill in December 1922, and extended to Ringwood the following month, then to Croydon in November 1925 and finally to Lilydale in October 1925. Conversion to automatic signalling resumed in April 1927 with the conversion of Canterbury to Surrey Hills, followed by Surrey Hills to Box Hill in October 1929. The section from Croydon to Mooroolbark was duplicated in 1957, creating a long passing loop on this otherwise single-line section beyond Ringwood. The section from Mooroolbark to Lilydale remains