Editing Rail transport in Victoria (section)

===Post war rebuilding===

After [[World War II]], the railways were run down, with [[Operation Phoenix (railway)|Operation Phoenix]] unveiled in 1950, involving the expenditure of £80 million over 10 years.<ref name="arhs3">{{cite web | title = ARHS Railway Museum: Victoria 1950 – now | work = ARHS Railway Museum | url = http://www.railwaymuseum.org.au/history3.html | access-date = 5 February 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070208193612/http://www.railwaymuseum.org.au/history3.html | archive-date = 8 February 2007}}</ref> Works included [[Railway electrification system|electrification]] to [[Traralgon, Victoria|Traralgon]], new [[Harris (train)|Harris suburban trains]], the Walker railmotors, and approximately 3,000 new goods wagons.<ref name="vrhist" />

On 14 July 1952, the Victorian Railways (VR) entered the [[dieselisation|diesel era]], with the delivery of the first [[Victorian Railways B class (diesel)|B class]] mainline locomotive,<ref name="arhs3" /> with the commissioning of the first mainline electrification scheme in Australia in July 1954 to [[Warragul railway station|Warragul]].<ref name="vrhist" /> March 1954 saw [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] tour Victoria by [[Victorian Railways Royal Train|Royal Train]], the first time a reigning monarch had travelled on the VR,<ref name="vrhist" /> 1954 also saw the last steam locomotive to enter service, [[Victorian Railways J class (1954)|J class 559]],<ref name="vrhist" /> as well as the last four wheeled open wagons being built.<ref name="wagons" /> The fifties also saw the loss of a number of short branch lines, particularly country where the only traffic had been timber or livestock.<ref name="awaugh" />

In the 1960s, the [[break of gauge]] at Albury was eliminated, with the opening of the [[North East railway line|North East standard gauge line]] in 1962.<ref name="arhs3" /> The new line aided freight traffic between the state capitals, and enabled through passenger trains, such as the ''[[Southern Aurora]]'' and the ''[[Intercapital Daylight]]''. At the same time, the sixties was also the end of steam, with the demolition of the massive [[North Melbourne Locomotive Depot]] on 20 January 1961.<ref name="vrhist" />

1965 saw the Victorian Railways produce a £193,727 surplus, but by 1973, increasing costs and declining revenue resulted in a $86,086,361 deficit. On 20 July 1976, the Laverton derailment occurred, killing one passenger, in what was the last railway passenger fatality not involving a road vehicle.<ref name="vrhist" /> By the late seventies, roadside goods and country railmotor services had been replaced by road transport, and branch lines outside the grain producing areas were now virtually non-existent.<ref name="awaugh" /> The [[Lonie Report]] delivered in 1980 recommended the closure of all country passenger service except that to Geelong, elimination of a number of suburban railways, and moving small-volume freight from rail to road.