Live service status for the Glen Waverley line is on the map.
View live on LiveDelays.com Opens the live map. Free, no sign-up.A closure on the main line is a different matter. Every service on this line calls at Richmond - all 1902 of them - so a stretch that includes it cannot be worked around, and buses have to carry everyone.
Richmond is the junction. Every service calls there, and it is where a train can be switched off the branch and onto the direct route.
A cancelled service and a closed line are different things. One cancellation removes a single train and the next one still comes; a closure stops trains along a stretch and puts buses on instead.
The status above covers the second. For the first - one service cancelled, or running late - the map has every train on the line right now, with the delay on each and what riders on board are reporting.