[1] The line runs from Southern Cross railway station on the western edge of the Melbourne central business district to Albury railway station in the border settlement of Albury-Wodonga, serving the cities of Wangaratta and Seymour, and smaller towns in northeastern Victoria.

The line is owned by VicTrack, but the standard gauge sections are leased to and maintained by the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Violet Town, Benalla, Wangaratta, Springhurst and Wodonga were reached in 1873,[3] connecting with the New South Wales Government Railways at Albury at a break of gauge in 1883.

[7] By 2001, the State Government announced the conversion of the broad gauge line to standard,[8] but action was stifled, due largely to complex leasing arrangements.

[9] In May 2008, it was announced that the tracks would be upgraded, including a 5 km (3.1 mi) bypass around Wodonga, the conversion of 200 kilometres (120 mi) of the North East railway line to standard gauge between Seymour and Albury as well as other upgrades to the North East line.

[15] In early August 2010, CountryLink decided to terminate all Sydney-Melbourne XPTs at Albury for an indefinite length of time, due to defects in the newly re-sleepered track.

"Mud holes" resulted in speed restrictions on more than 200 kilometres (about 66 per cent) of the line, adding an extra 1.5 hours to the travelling time.

[18] On 20 February 2020, a NSW TrainLink XPT passenger train towards Sydney derailed at Wallan, resulting in suspension of freight, V/Line and NSW TrainLink services on the North East Line and the adjacent broad gauge Tocumwal railway line.

South of Seymour, all passenger trains heading to, and from, Melbourne (Southern Cross) only make a scheduled stop at Broadmeadows.

From its introduction in November 1937 until April 1962 the train service ran on the broad gauge line from Spencer Street station to Albury, on the New South Wales / Victorian border, where passengers changed to a New South Wales Government Railways train (the Melbourne Limited Express), running on the standard gauge track to complete the journey to Sydney.

Following the completion of the standard gauge line between Melbourne and Albury in April 1962 the Spirit of Progress was extended to Sydney.

With declining passenger numbers it was decided to combine the Spirit of Progress and Southern Aurora into one train, the Sydney/Melbourne Express.

[26][27] The Inter-Capital Daylight was a daytime express passenger train that operated between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne On 26 March 1956, the New South Wales Government Railways and Victorian Railways introduced connecting daytime services named the Sydney–Melbourne (Melbourne–Sydney) Daylight Express.

[30] The Southern Aurora was an overnight express passenger train that operated between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

The train first ran on 13 April 1962 after the opening of the standard gauge line from Melbourne to Albury,[31] eliminating the break-of-gauge between the capital cities.

[35] The entire line is used by NSW TrainLink Southern services to, and from, Sydney (Central), which makes limited stops on this section.

A branch line was opened during the Second World War to Broadstore, designed to connect Broadmeadows station with the Maygar Barracks.

[41] The local MP reported that the cost of converting this 125 km (77.7 mi) branch to standard gauge was just over $13m.

A branch line opened from Bowser (north of Wangaratta) to Everton in 1875, which was extended to Beechworth in 1876 and Yackandandah in 1891.