Edgecliff railway station, Sydney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edgecliff
Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line
Station code	ECL
Suburb	Edgecliff
Street(s)	New South Head Rd
Distance from Central Station	4.82 km
Station Altitude (above sea level)	? m
Types of stopping trains	Suburban all stops Suburban limited stops Intercity (peak hours only)
Number of platforms	2
Number of tracks	2
Platform arrangement	1 Island
Type of station	Underground
Ticket barriers	Yes
Transfers available	Bus
Disabled access	No
Station facilities	Link

Edgecliff railway station is an underground railway station in the inner-Sydney suburb of Edgecliff. The station is on the Eastern Suburbs line, one of the Sydney underground railways. The station was opened in 1979 upon the completion of the line.

1 Location
2 History
- 2.1 The Bus-Rail Interchange
- 2.2 Rail Clearways Project Upgrade
3 External links

[edit] Location

The station is situated behind and below the Eastpoint shopping centre on New South Head Road at Ocean Street, Edgecliff. Access is via New South Head Road or from the bus-rail interchange above the concourse.

The station is not truly underground. The city end of the station is above ground level (but fully enclosed). The Bondi Junction end of the station is below ground. The entirety of the platforms are enclosed, however, with the concourse and bus interchange above it.

[edit] History

Whilst the Eastern Suburbs Railway was not originally intended to travel via Edgecliff, the first proposal for an Edgecliff Station was in 1947. In 1963 it was suggested that Edgecliff be the terminus of the first stage of the Railway but by 1967 it was decided Bondi Junction was a better terminus location.

The station and bus terminal opened on 23 June 1979.

[edit] The Bus-Rail Interchange

Upon opening most bus services travelling past the station towards the city were curtailed to terminate at the station. Despite the 1976 review that caused the design of the bus-rail interchanges at Edgecliff and Bondi Junction to be scaled back, significant work was completed at Edgecliff to better facilitate these bus route changes: a tunnel had been dug under Ocean Street and Edgecliff Rd, around the Edgecliff Post Office to New South Head Road.

Edgecliff track layout

However, because the time savings of the train over the bus from Edgecliff were minimal, few passengers opted to utilise the interchange. In later bus timetable revisions all New South Head Road bus services continue to the city and do not use the interchange. In 2006 the interchange is very quiet, being utilised only by services to the city from Bondi Junction (and vice versa) plus those from the city to the Eastern Suburbs continuing east along New South Head Road.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s there have been a number of calls for the site of the interchange to be sold off and the facility closed. As yet nothing has come of this.

[edit] Rail Clearways Project Upgrade

Although not directly mentioned in projects associated with the CityRail Clearways Project, work was taken out at Edgecliff as a part of the Bondi Junction Turnback project. This involved the motorisation and signalling of an emergency crossover located at the "Up" (city) end of Edgecliff Station. Previously it had not been possible to ordinarily terminate trains at Edgecliff. When completed in September 2004 it permitted trains to terminate at Edgecliff and return towards the city. This was necessary to allow the closing of Bondi Junction station while major work was carried out there but allowing the line to otherwise remain open.