Melbourne commuters warned of 'unprecedented' rail line shut-down

More than 1.5 million Melbourne commuters have been told to brace for nine rail line closures in April.

Buses will replace trains on Cranbourne, Pakenham, Frankston, Sandringham, Mernda, Gippsland and Geelong/Warrnambool lines from April 1 until April 23.

Richmond station will also be closed on Easter weekend, with the Free Tram Zone that runs through the CBD extended during the shutdown, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said today.

Travel on the Gippsland line will also be free during the shut-down period.

“All of the arrangements are the best we can do to minimise disruption,” Mr Andrews said.

Passengers have been told to allow an additional hour travel time on their journey.

Mr Andrews apologised for the shut-down, but said the closures were “absolutely essential” to allow for level crossing removals, work on the Metro Tunnel Project, and other works.

“It can’t be avoided… if we don’t build these projects we’ll have nothing but disruption and chaos into the future,” he said.

“There’s no alternative.”

Engineers told 9News they are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that followed the last major shutdown in January, when a train snagged on new equipment, leaving thousands of peak hour commuters stranded.

April shut-down timeline

From April 1: Frankston line- Buses replace trains between Mordialloc and Frankston.

From April 3: Mernda line closed for seven days between Merna and Thornbury.

From April 6: Two week shut-down begins on Dandenong. Buses replace trains between Flinders Street and Caulfield.

From April 16: Geelong line to shut, with buses operating between Southern Cross, Waurn Ponds and Warrnambool. Ballarat and Gippsland also affected.

Easter Weekend (April 20/21): Buses to replace trains on Sandringham, Frankston, Glen Waverley, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines.

The premier urged commuters to visit bigbuild.vic.gov.au for more information.