Sydney underground railways
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sydney's underground railways do not form a true metro, because they are extensions of suburban main line services and are not a completely segregated system. However, the underground sections, especially the City Circle, show many of the characteristics of a metro, such as very frequent services. In this way Sydney's railways can be considered a hybrid system. The railways are run by CityRail, an agency of the government of New South Wales.
Because the original underground lines were built in conjunction with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a decision was made to have the lines in shallow tunnels so as to minimise the height difference between the underground rails and their extension across the bridge.
[edit] Underground lines
Sydney has three underground lines; a fourth is under construction.
- The oldest is the main city loop, the City Circle, which runs between Central, Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St. James station and Museum stations. Central and Circular Quay are above-ground stations (Circular Quay is elevated, directly underneath the Cahill Expressway), while the remainder are below ground. The line to St. James station and Museum was opened in 1926, but Circular Quay was a "missing link" until 1956. The "western limb" of the City Circle through Town Hall and Wynyard to Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932.
- The second, the Eastern Suburbs line, opened in 1979. It runs between Redfern, Central, Town Hall, Martin Place, Kings Cross, Edgecliff and Bondi Junction stations. All these are underground, but there are three above-ground sections, two on viaduct and one in cutting. Most of the platforms at Redfern and Central stations are above ground, including the platforms for the City Circle, but the Eastern Suburbs line is underground. There were plans to extend the Eastern Suburbs line from Bondi Junction to Bondi Beach, but the plans have since fallen through.
- The third underground line is the Airport Line, which opened in 2000, prior to the Sydney Olympics. This serves Central, Green Square, Mascot, Domestic (underneath the Domestic terminal), International (underneath International terminal at Sydney Airport), and Wolli Creek. After Wolli Creek it joins the above-ground East Hills line at Turrella.
- The Epping to Chatswood rail link is under construction. It will link Chatswood to Epping, with new underground platforms at these two stations and new underground stations at Macquarie University, Macquarie Park and North Ryde. The line was intended to continue from Epping to Parramatta, incorporating the existing Carlingford line, but this section has been postponed indefinitely.
There are also vague plans for:
- a new underground line to extend from Epping to Castle Hill, and possibly later to the new development underway at Rouse Hill.
- a subway to travel from Central to St Leonards under the city and the harbour. See MetroPitt.
[edit] Disused tunnels
Sydney has several disused tunnels. The best known of these are those leading out of St. James station. There are also several disused tunnels and platforms on the Eastern Suburbs line, which like St. James station provided for the possibility of four tunnels even though only two were ever built. Most of the stations have these disused platforms adjacent (but walled off from) the platforms currently in use. At Redfern station instead of platforms there is a big open pit in the ground, running from surface to subway level, in which in 2000 construction personnel were busy building something (possibly a car park). The never-used platforms at Central are used to store the Archives of the State Rail Authority. Like St. James station, these stations have stub tunnels, although they are much shorter. They were used in filming the movie The Matrix.
It is possible to access the Redfern pit and disused tunnels in two ways — there is a hole in the wall opposite the in-use platforms where people climb in (the one through which sunlight and weeds are visible); it is also reportedly possible to enter the stub tunnels from Eveleigh rail yards.
There were two tunnels for the old Pyrmont goods line, not part of the pasenger railway system. One runs underneath Railway Square, between the Central station railway yards and the Powerhouse Museum, the other underneath Glebe. The first tunnel is no longer used, but the old railway from the Powerhouse Museum to Lilyfield, including Glebe tunnel, has been converted to form part of the Metro Light Rail line from Central station (see Metropolitan Goods Line).
Also of interest is a tunnel connecting the Eveleigh rail yards, on the southern side of the main line, to the northern side of the main line, just past Redfern.
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