South Coast railway line, New South Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| South Coast line | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Mode | Regional rail line Coach service |
| Area | Wollongong Shellharbour Kiama Shoalhaven |
| Map colour | Blue/Grey |
| Owner | CityRail |
| Design | |
| Length | 153 km |
| Stations | 40 |
| Connects | Central Wollongong Port Kembla (branch) Dapto Bundanoon (by coach) Kiama Bomaderry (Nowra) |
| 1887 | Opened |
| Operations | |
| Operator(s) | CityRail |
| Fleet | V, T, G, L sets; Endeavour railcars |
| Depot(s) | Mortdale |
| Public transport | | |
The South Coast Line is in the intercity region of Sydney's CityRail services. It serves the coastal region to the south of the Sydney metropolitan area including the Illawarra region, most notably the regional city of Wollongong, and extended services reach as far as Nowra in Shoalhaven.
Contents |
[edit] Line naming
The line is operationally and historically known as the Illawarra Line throughout its length from the Illawarra Junction at Redfern to its terminus in Bomaderry. CityRail currently markets the suburban services to Waterfall and Cronulla as the Illawarra line and interurban services south to Wollongong and Bomaderry as the South Coast line.
[edit] Description of route
[edit] Suburban section
[1]The South Coast (Illawarra) line commences at the Illawarra Junction at Redfern. Here, a dive-under allows services from the Illawarra line to cross underneath the main suburban railway lines to access Sydney terminal station. From the Illawarra junction, four tracks head south through the stations of Erskineville and St Peters to Sydenham. Immediately north of Erskineville station, the Illawarra lines are connected to the Illawarra Relief Lines which emerge from underground. These lines form the Eastern Suburbs line which opened in 1979. Heading south from Erskineville, the eastern-most pair of tracks are the Up and down Illawarra lines which usually carry the Illawarra line passenger services. The western-most pair of tracks are the Up and Down Illawarra local tracks which usually carry Bankstown and East Hills line express trains. To the west of the four tracks between Erskineville and Sydenham lies a reservation for a further pair of tracks with partially constructed platforms at Erskineville and St Peters stations. There are current plans to complete these tracks under the Rail Clearways plan, these tracks will be known as the Up and Down Illawarra relief lines.[2]
At Sydenham, six platforms are provided, with Bankstown line services generally using the western-most pair (platforms 1 and 2), East Hills peak hour services using the inner pair (plaforms 3 and 4) and Illawarra line services usuing the easternmost pair of platforms (platforms 5 and 6). South of Sydenham, the Bankstown line branches off in a westwards direction. The Botany Goods Line crosses over the four Illawarra line tracks via a flyover on its way to Port Botany. The line then reaches Tempe station, before crossing the Cooks River. South of the Cooks River lies Wolli Creek station, where the East Hills line braches off in a westerly direction. The Illawarra line continues south as four tracks through a rock cutting to the stations of Arncliffe (2 side platforms and an island plaform), Banksia (2 island platforms) and Rockdale. Rockdale station has five plaforms, platform 1 (the most westerly platform) is currently unelectrified and disused for passenger services, but was previously been a terminating point for electric passenger trains. South of Rockdale, the line passes through Kogarah station (two island plaforms) which has a shopping centre built overhead. The line the makes a westerly turn, heading through Carlton and Allawah stations (both with two island platforms). Carlton is currently undergoing an upgrade to easy access status with the provision of lifts, Allawah had this completed in the early 2000's.
The next station is Hurstville (2 island platforms), which is where the four track section ends and terminating facilities are provided. Like Kogarah, Hurstville has a shopping centre built above the platforms. South of Hurstville, the line becomes 2 tracks with bidirectional signalling. The line passes through Penshurst and Mortdale (island platforms). At Mortdale is the Mortdale train depot which lies on the eastern side of the tracks with access points from the south of the station. The line then continues to Oatley which has an island platform and a set of points allowing trains to be turned-back. The line then crosses the Georges River and enters the Sutherland Shire, passing through Como and Jannali (side platforms) before reaching Sutherland.
At Sutherland, three platforms are provided. The Cronulla Line branches off in an eastwards direction south of the station. The line then continues south through Loftus, Engadine, and Heathcote (all side platform stations). South of Loftus, the former Royal National Park line branched off, this has now been converted into a tram line connecting to the Sydney Tramway Museum, and connections to the mainline have been severed. The final station for the operation of suburban services is Waterfall station, which is an island platform. At Waterfall, there is a train stabling yard and a train turnback (shunting road) south of the station. South of Waterfall is the site of the 2003 Waterfall train disaster.
[edit] Inter-urban section
The line then heads south through the challenging terrain of the Royal National Park and Illawarra escarpment. The line makes a steep decent down to Wollongong. The original alignment through the towns of Helensburgh and Lilyvale which opened in 1888 was bypassed by a new route in 1915. A new station at Helensburgh (island platform) was subsequently opened with the new alignment. A set of points allows the turnback of trains at Helensburgh. The line then proceeds through several tunnels down the Illwarra escarpment through the hamlets of Stanwell Park, Coalcliff, Scarborough and Thirroul to the northern suburbs of Wollongong. Double tracking ends at Coniston in the southern suburbs of Wollongong and electrification ends at the town of Kiama. South of Kiama, the line continues as a single track non-electrified line to its terminus at the town of Bomaderry on the northern bank of the Shoalhaven River.
[edit] South Coast line stations
- Helensburgh
- Lilyvale (disused)
- Otford
- Stanwell Park
- Coalcliff - end of double line
- Clifton (disused)
- Scarborough - restart double line
- Coledale
- Wombarra
- Austinmer
- Thirroul
- Bulli
- Woonona
- Bellambi
- Corrimal
- Towradgi
- Fairy Meadow
- North Wollongong
- Wollongong
- Coniston - short section of single line
[edit] Mainline: to Bomaderry (Nowra)
- Unanderra - crossing loop - end of double line
- Kembla Grange Racecourse
- Dapto - crossing loop - change tracks
- Yallah (disused)
- Albion Park - crossing loop
- Oak Flats
- Dunmore (Shellharbour) (Shellharbour) - crossing loop
- Minnamurra
- Bombo - crossing loop
- Kiama - crossing loop - end of electrification - change (unless diesel train)
- Omega (closed)
- Gerringong
- Berry - crossing loop
- Jaspers Brush (closed)
- Toolijooa (closed)
- Bomaderry (Nowra) - end of line
[edit] Branch: to Port Kembla
- Lysaghts
- Cringila
- Port Kembla North - end of double line
- Port Kembla - end of line
[edit] History
[edit] Main Line Construction
The Illawarra Line branched off the Main Suburban Railway south of Redfern, at Eveleigh (Illawarra Junction) reaching Hurstville in 1884, Sutherland in 1885, Waterfall in 1886, Bulli, Wollongong, Unanderra and Bombo in 1887 and Kiama and Bomaderry, across the Shoalhaven River from the town of Nowra in 1893.[3] In 1886, a branch line was opened to the Royal National Park, which was closed in 1991. Electrification was completed in stages from Sydney to Loftus (1926), Waterfall (1980), Wollongong (1985), Dapto (1996) and Kiama (April 2001). The Kiama-Nowra section remains unelectrified. In 1924, work began on a 57 km line connecting Unanderra with Moss Vale on the Great Southern line, which was opened in 1932. It enabled the transportation of limestone from the Southern Highlands to the coast at Port Kembla. See: Unanderra - Moss Vale railway line
[edit] References
- ^ Illawarra Line. Railcorp track diagram, 09 September 2002
- ^ TIDC. TIDC. Retrieved on 14 December 2006.
- ^ South Coast line. www.nswrail.net. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
| Railway lines in New South Wales: | |
|---|---|
| Main lines: | Broken Hill Line, Main Northern Line, Main Southern Line, Main Western Line, North Coast Line, South Coast (Illawarra) Line |
| Country Branch Lines: | Berrima Line, Blayney - Demondrille Line, Bombala Line, BHP Port Kembla, Binnaway - Werris Creek Line, Boggabilla Branch, Canberra Branch, Cobar Branch, Coonamble Branch, Gwabegar Line, Grenfell Branch, Hay Branch, Lake Cargelligo Branch, Medway Quarry Branch, Merriwa Branch, Mungindi Line, Murwillumbah Branch, Naradhan Branch, Oaklands Branch, Parkes - Narromine Line, Picton Loop Line, Pokataroo Branch, Sandy Hollow - Gulgong Line, Skitube, Stockinbingal - Parkes Line, Temora - Roto Line, Tottenham Branch, Troy Junction - Merrygoen Line, Unanderra - Moss Vale Line, Walgett Branch, Wallerawang Colliery Branch, Warren Branch, Yanco - Griffith Line |
| Sydney Suburban Lines: | Airport and East Hills Line, Bankstown Line, Carlingford Line, Cumberland Line, Eastern Suburbs Line, Cronulla Line, Inner West Line, Illawarra Line, Metropolitan Goods Line, North Shore Line, Northern Line, Olympic Park Line, Richmond Line, Sandown Line, South Line, Western Line |
