Carlingford railway line, Sydney
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| Carlingford Line | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Mode | Commuter rail line |
| Area | |
| Map colour | Dark blue |
| Owner | CityRail |
| Design | |
| Length | 7 km |
| Stations | 7 |
| Connects | Clyde Carlingford |
| 1888 | Opened to Camellia |
| 1896 | Opened to Carlingford |
| 1900 | Reopened under public ownership |
| 1925 | Telopea station added |
| 1990? | Sandown branch closed |
| Operations | |
| Operator(s) | CityRail |
| Fleet | R/S, K, T sets |
| Depot(s) | Hornsby |
| Public transport | | |
The Carlingford Line is a short railway line on the metropolitan CityRail network located in western Sydney, Australia. It travels between Carlingford and Clyde stations in the Greater West and Hills District of Sydney. It is labelled as dark blue on CityRail's maps and promotional material.
Contents |
[edit] Line description
[edit] Overview
The Carlingford Line consists of a single track branch line off the Western Line, between Clyde and Carlingford. The line has its own platform at Clyde station, where it crosses over Parramatta Road on a level crossing, before heading under the M4 Western Motorway to a station opposite Rosehill Gardens Racecourse. Until this point the line parallels the now-industrial Sandown Line. The line then heads in a north-easterly direction over the Parramatta River up to Carlingford.
There are no crossing loops or any double track on the line, and thus no capacity for bidirectional working. The average 12 minute travel time between Clyde and Carlingford allows a theoretical maximum capacity of approximately four trains per hour on this line. CityRail-timetabling and poor patronage mean that this is never required. It is Sydney's least-used railway line.
The stations between Carlingford and Camellia consist of a single platform of a sufficient length only to accommodate four-car suburban trains (most CityRail services consist of eight cars), due to a power supply problem on the line. Rosehill station consists of two platforms - one four-car long platform for the Carlingford Line; and one platform which is approximately sixteen-cars long, which is used for special events at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse. Prior to 2005, Clyde station was a major interchange station of the Western, Southern and Carlingford lines, although under the September 2005 Timetable, Southern trains no longer stopped at Clyde.
[edit] History
The line was opened in two sections: Clyde to Camellia was opened on 17 November 1888, and Camellia to Carlingford (then known as Pennant Hills) was opened on 20 April 1896. Telopea Station was added in 1925. Originally the line was privately owned by two companies: the line from Clyde to Rosehill was owned by a Mr John Bennett and the line from Rosehill to Carlingford was owned by the Rosehill Railway Company.
The lines were taken over by their bank in 1896, with the Government purchasing the line in 1898 and reopening services on 1 August 1900.
The line from Clyde to Rosehill was electrified on 12 December 1936. The line from Rosehill to Carlingford was electrified on 9 August 1959.
[edit] Parramatta Rail Link and future plans
The State Government originally planned for the Carlingford line to be part of Stage 2 of the Parramatta Rail Link. The plan would have incorporated the majority of the line, where the line between Carlingford and Camellia would have been duplicated. Telopea, Dundas, and Rydalmere stations would also have been duplicated and upgraded to service eight car trains. Camellia station would have been demolished, Rosehill station closed and replaced by a new underground station named 'Rosehill/Camellia'. Carlingford station would also have been replaced by a new underground station. Various proposals were put forward, including a three-way underground junction near Carlingford linking the station to the proposed North West Rail Link as well as the line to Chatswood.
In 2003 the then Minister for Transport, Mr Michael Costa announced that the line would be truncated to its Stage 1 construction from Chatswood to Epping, and the Carlingford line section indefinitely postponed. Recent plans to extend the North West Rail Link from near Beecroft and build the Harbour Rail Link may probably spell the end of these proposals for the Carlingford line.
Various inquiries and studies have been undertaken since on the future of the Carlingford line. A major problem remains the level crossing on Parramatta Road, which holds up peak hour traffic when trains travel across the road. Proposals have been made including underground tunnel links to Clyde or Granville stations, or even to replace the line altogether with a more frequent light rail or busway service.
Under the 2010 Clearways Plan, the line may have a more certain future thanks to a proposal to build a crossing loop at Rydalmere station and thus increase train frequency to half-hourly throughout the day.
[edit] Line information
| Off-Peak Services Per Hour: | |
| Monday to Friday Daytime | 1 |
| Monday to Friday Evening | 1 |
| Saturday & Sunday Daytime | 1 |
| Saturday & Sunday Evening | 1 |
- All services operate in a Clyde-Carlingford shuttle. One service in the morning peak hour continues to Central, stopping Lidcombe, Strathfield & Redfern. Another service in the very early morning operates Lidcombe-Carlingford. For all other trains, a change of trains is needed at Clyde station.
| Name of Station | Code | TravelPass Zone | Serving Suburbs | Pattern stops at this station |
Connections | |
| Carlingford Line | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clyde | CYE | Yellow | Granville |  |
|
Western Line Southern Line |
| Rosehill | RSL | Yellow | Rosehill, Camellia, Harris Park | |
|
|
| Camellia | CEL | Yellow | Camellia, Rosehill | |
||
| Rydalmere | RYD | Pink | Rydalmere | |
||
| Dundas | DDS | Pink | Dundas, Oatlands | |
||
| Telopea | TEA | Pink | Telopea, Dundas Valley | |
||
| Carlingford | CGF | Pink | Carlingford | |
||
[edit] Stopping patterns
- Pattern 1: all stations Clyde to Carlingford (off-peak and peak)
- Pattern 2: Clyde - Rosehill shuttle service (race days only)
[edit] References
- New South Wales Railways - line information
- Neety's Train Page - line & station information
- aus.rail newsgroup
