Editing Cranbourne line (section)

=== 20th century ===

==== Regional services ====
{{Main|South Gippsland railway line}}
[[File:South-Gippsland-line.png|thumb|A map of the [[South Gippsland railway line]] in the 20th century]]
Throughout the early to mid 20th century, the South Gippsland railway line continued to open additional branch lines, including to [[Woodside railway line|Woodside]], [[Barry Beach railway line|Barry Beach]], [[Welshpool Jetty railway line|Welshpool Jetty]], [[Outtrim railway line|Outtrim]], [[Wonthaggi railway line|Wonthaggi]], and [[Strzelecki railway line|Strzelecki]].<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=Great Southern Rail Trail |url=https://www.gsrt.com.au/history |access-date=25 December 2022 |website=greatsouthernrt |language=en}}</ref> All of these branch lines ceased their operations between the mid and late 20th century due to a decrease in patronage.<ref name=":14" /> On 6 June 1981, passenger services ceased operation to [[Yarram railway station|Yarram]]. In 1984, the line re-opened with services to [[Leongatha railway station|Leongatha]], until its second closure on 24 June 1993.<ref name=":2" /> The [[Barry Beach railway line|Barry Beach freight service]] ceased operations in 1992, with the line beyond Leongatha booked out of service on 30 June 1992, thus, effectively ending all traffic on the line beyond Leongatha.<ref name=":16">{{Victorian Rail-Newsrail|title=Works|month=10|year=1992|page=330}}</ref> V/Line passenger services continued to Cranbourne till its electrification, with freight operations continuing into the late 1990s with freight services to the [[AGM Siding|Koala siding]].<ref name=":16" />

==== Metropolitan services ====
[[File:Dandenong Station.jpg|thumb|Dandenong station was rebuilt as part of the "Building Better Cities" program]]
In 1995, the [[Australian Government]] launched the "Building Better Cities" program, designed to redevelop Australian cities with better communities and infrastructure.<ref name=":3" /> The $27 million project included a rebuilt [[Dandenong railway station|Dandenong station]], a new station in [[Cranbourne North]] ([[Merinda Park railway station|Merinda Park station]]), the introduction of three position signalling, and electrification of the signal tracked corridor.<ref name="ttt2">{{cite book |last=Fiddian |first=Mark |title=Trains, Tracks, Travelers. A history of the Victorian Railways |publisher=South Eastern Independent Newspapers |year=1997 |isbn=1-875475-12-5 |page=154}}</ref> These works resulted in the re-opening of a section of the South Gippsland line to passengers which became known as the Cranbourne Line.<ref name=":3" />

Freight services continued on part of the South Gippsland line till 1998, when services from the [[AGM Siding|Koala Siding]] were suspended.<ref name="sand2">{{Victorian Rail-Newsrail|title=Farewell – The Sand Train|month=2|year=1998|pages=71–76}}</ref> With these changes, the line became unused beyond Cranbourne.<ref name="sand2" /> The exception was a [[Heritage railway|tourist railway]] operation, which commenced operation between [[Nyora railway station|Nyora]] and [[Leongatha railway station|Leongatha]], and later became known as the [[South Gippsland Railway]] till its closure in January 2016.<ref name="SGSTClose">{{cite news |date=19 January 2016 |title=Off the rails – South Gippsland Tourist Rail disbands |work=South Gippsland Sentinel Times |url=http://sgst.com.au/2016/01/off-the-rails-south-gippsland-tourist-rail-disbands/ |access-date=19 September 2016 |archive-date=16 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216221048/http://sgst.com.au/2016/01/off-the-rails-south-gippsland-tourist-rail-disbands/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Lynbrook station platform 1.jpg|thumb|Lynbrook station, opened in 2012]]