Airport and East Hills railway line, Sydney

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Airport & East Hills Line
Image:CityRail green.gif
Overview
Mode Commuter rail line
Area City of Sydney
City of Botany Bay
City of Rockdale
Marrickville Council
City of Canterbury
City of Bankstown
City of Liverpool
City of Campbelltown
Map colour Green
Owner CityRail
Design
Stations 32
Connects Town Hall, Wynyard, Central, Sydenham, Wolli Creek, Glenfield, Campbelltown
1931 East Hills line opened
1987 Connected to South line
2000 Airport Line Opened
Operations
Operator(s) CityRail
Airport Link Company
Fleet C, R, S, T, M sets
Public transport |  v • d • e 

The Airport & East Hills Railway Line, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, connects the Sydney Central Business District with Glenfield and then Campbelltown via Kingsford Smith International Airport and East Hills. Part of Sydney's CityRail network, the line is made up of two separate lines, the East Hills Line, originally constructed in 1931, and the Airport Line (or Airport Link) (opened in 2000), as well as a portion of the Main South Line between Glenfield and Campbelltown; although since the opening of the Airport Line, the two lines have operated essentially as a single line. Operationally, however, the lines are quite different, with the Airport Line being operated by a private company, the Airport Link Company, as part of a public private partnership (PPP).

The first section of the line, connecting Tempe and East Hills, opened in 1931. The line was connected to the main south line at Glenfield, via Holsworthy, in 1987. The line joined with the new Airport Link in 2000.

Contents

[edit] East Hills Line

Further information: East Hills railway line, Sydney

[edit] Alignment

A Tangara train crosses the Cooks River on the East Hills line between Tempe and Wolli Creek stations.
A Tangara train crosses the Cooks River on the East Hills line between Tempe and Wolli Creek stations.

The East Hills line runs along the alignment of the Illawarra line between the City Circle and Tempe Railway Station - this route is used during peak hour by express services. From Wolli Creek, the line heads west towards East Hills, where the alignment is within 2 km of the since-constructed M5 South Western Motorway between Wolli Creek and East Hills. It then turns south-west through the new suburbs of Voyager Point and Wattle Grove to meet the main south line at Glenfield Junction, where services proceed to Campbelltown and Macarthur. The line is four tracks between Wolli Creek junction and just past Beverly Hills Station, then two tracks to Glenfield junction, Campbelltown and Macarthur, except for several stations with three platforms at East Hills, Glenfield, Campbelltown and Macarthur. The line parallels the Southern Sydney Freight Line between Macarthur and Ingleburn stations.

[edit] History

State Rail East Hills Line timetable from 1987, prior to the Glenfield extension. Prior to the opening of the Holsworthy and Airport extensions, the line was marketed simply as the "East Hills Line".
State Rail East Hills Line timetable from 1987, prior to the Glenfield extension. Prior to the opening of the Holsworthy and Airport extensions, the line was marketed simply as the "East Hills Line".

The original East Hills line was opened on 21 September 1931 as an electrified double track line from Wolli Creek Junction (between the present-day Tempe Station and Wolli Creek) to Kingsgrove, then a single track non-electrified section to East Hills with a passing loop at Riverwood. The single line between Kingsgrove and East Hills was opened for electric services on 17 December 1939.[1]

The line was duplicated between Kingsgrove and Riverwood in 1948, with points for terminating trains provided at both stations, and a passing loop at Revesby was opened in 1956. Services generally ran all stations from East Hills via Tempe and Sydenham, to the City Circle. Occasional services terminated at Riverwood, Kingsgrove & Padstow. Most trains stopped at Erskineville and St. Peters, now only served by the Bankstown line.

[edit] Glenfield Extension

In 1987, the line was duplicated through to East Hills and extended to Glenfield to connect with the Main South Line, allowing through services to and from Campbelltown. A new station was provided at Holsworthy, and East Hills station was rebuilt with the addition of a third platform. When services commenced on 21 December 1987,[2] there were only limited services from Campbelltown via East Hills during peak hours only; however, in 1988 an all day half hourly service was provided. Local (all stations) services generally ran every 15 minutes from East Hills.[3]

[edit] Airport Line

[edit] Alignment

Map of the Airport Line and other lines in the Inner City.
Map of the Airport Line and other lines in the Inner City.

The Airport Link includes a 4 km rock tunnel and a 6 km soft ground tunnel.

For most of its length, the line is in tunnel. The Airport Link runs south from platform 23 at Central station across a viaduct to the tunnel portal beneath Prince Alfred Park near Chalmers Street. The tunnel roughly follows George Street underneath the suburbs of Redfern and Waterloo. At Green Square station, beneath the intersection of Botany Road, Bourke Road and O'Riordan Street, the line continues beneath Bourke Road to Mascot station, a block south of Gardeners Road.

From Mascot, the line roughly follows O'Riordan Street before turning sharply to the west once underneath Kingsford Smith Airport. The line runs westward under the Domestic terminal and the International terminal before continuing north-west underneath the Cooks River to reach the surface at Wolli Creek. At Wolli Creek, the Airport Link joins the East Hills line. The line is two tracks for its entire length.

[edit] History

The underground platforms for Wolli Creek station, constructed for the Airport Link in 2000.
The underground platforms for Wolli Creek station, constructed for the Airport Link in 2000.

Construction on the Airport Rail Link (or the New Southern Railway, as it was originally called) began in 1995 with a view to improving facilities for air travellers ahead of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. At the time, the main public transport link between the city and its airport was two express bus services, the route 300 & route 350 "Airport Express" bus.[4]

Faced with the significant costs of building Olympic venues, the then Fahey Liberal government sought to reduce the costs of the new railway by entering into a public private partnership to build the line. Under the deal, the NSW Government would pay to build the line, while a private company, Airport Link, would pay to build and operate the stations. The company's involvement was predicated on passenger estimates and train reliability guarantees that later proved to be optimistic.

The line opened on 21 May 2000, three months ahead of the Olympic Games,[2] after the State Government had spent around $700 million on the project and the Airport Link Company over $200 million. The new line included five new stations, four to be owned and operated by the private company. Two new stations were built for the airport's International and Domestic Terminals, which featured larger lifts and wider ticket barriers to cater for passengers with baggage.[5] Three new suburban stations were built - one each for the residential development areas of Mascot & Green Square, and an interchange station with the Illawarra Line at Wolli Creek, operated by CityRail.

In conjunction with the construction of the new line, the section of the East Hills Line between Wolli Creek Junction and Kingsgrove was quadruplified. Once this was opened, the running patterns of the trains on the lines changed. The "flying junctions" interchange near Central Station was altered to give the Airport Line its own platforms (21 & 23) at Central. Local (all stations) trains generally were timetabled to run from East Hills via the airport, peak hour express trains from Campbelltown run along the original route via Sydenham, taking the express tracks between Kingsgrove and Wolli Creek Junction.

Since the new line was built and is operated by a private company rather than CityRail, use of the stations require payment of a Station Access Fee on top of the usual CityRail fares.[6]

[edit] Operations and Stations

Trains on the line generally run every 15 minutes during weekdays, with more services in peak hours. Services are run using C, R, S, T, and M sets.

Name of Station Code
[7]		 Opened
[2][8][9][10]		 TravelPass
Zone[11]		 Serving Suburbs Pattern stops at this station[12] Connections
Airport and East Hills Line
Town Hall THL 1932 Red Sydney, Darling Harbour ■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line
■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line
■South Line  ■North Shore Line   ■Northern Line
■South Coast Line (peak hour only)
Wynyard WYD 1932 Red Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point, Barangaroo ■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line
■South Line   ■North Shore Line   ■Northern Line
Circular Quay CQY 1956 Red Circular Quay, Sydney
The Rocks, Millers Point, Barangaroo		 ■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line   ■South Line
St James SAJ 1926 Red Sydney ■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line   ■South Line
Museum MSM 1926 Red Sydney ■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line   ■South Line
Central SBO 1855 Red Central, Strawberry Hills
Ultimo, Surry Hills		 ■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line
■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line
■North Shore Line   ■Western Line
■South Line   ■Northern Line
■South Coast Line
■Southern Highlands Line
(limited services only)
■Blue Mountains Line
■Newcastle & Central Coast Line
At Central the line branches. The south western branch runs via Sydenham, and the southern branch runs via the airport.
Via Sydenham
Redfern RDF 1878 Red Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington
The University
of Sydney		 ■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line
■Bankstown Line   ■Inner West Line
■South Line   ■Western Line   ■Northern Line
■South Coast Line (peak hours only)
■Blue Mountains Line(peak hours only)
■Newcastle & Central Coast Line (peak hours only)
Sydenham SDN 1884 Red Sydenham, Marrickville ■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line
■Bankstown Line
Via the airport
Green Square GQE 2000 Red (+ fee) Zetland, Beaconsfield, Waterloo
Mascot MCO 2000 Red (+ fee) Mascot, Rosebery
Domestic DOM 2000 Red (+ fee) Sydney Airport, Mascot
International INT 2000 Red (+ fee) Sydney Airport, Mascot
Wolli Creek WOC 2000 Red Wolli Creek, Arncliffe ■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line
■South Coast Line
Both branches rejoin.
Turrella TLL 1931 Red Turrella
Bardwell Park BWP 1931 Red Bardwell Park, Bardwell Valley, Earlwood
Bexley North BXN 1931 Green Bexley North
Kingsgrove KGV 1931 Green Kingsgrove
Beverley Hills BVH 1931 Yellow Beverly Hills
Narwee NWE 1931 Yellow Narwee
Riverwood RVD 1931 Yellow Riverwood
Padstow PDW 1931 Yellow Padstow
Revesby RSV 1931 Yellow Revesby, Revesby North
Panania PNA 1931 Yellow Panania
East Hills EHS 1931 Pink East Hills, Voyager Point, Pleasure Point
Holsworthy HSW 1987 Pink Holsworthy, Hammondville, Wattle Grove
Glenfield GFD 1869 Purple Glenfield ■South Line   ■Cumberland Line
■Southern Highlands Line
(limited services only)
Macquarie Fields MQF 1888 Purple Macquarie Fields, Macquarie Links
Ingleburn IGB 1869 Purple Ingleburn, Denham Court
Minto MIO 1874 Purple Minto, Bow Bowing, St Andrews
Leumeah LUM 1886 Purple Leumeah, Woodbine, Claymore,
Campbelltown CAM 1858 Purple Campbelltown
Campbelltown North
Blair Athol		 ■South Line   ■Cumberland Line
■Southern Highlands Line
Macarthur MCU 1985 Purple Ambarvale, Englorie Park, Bradbury, Glen Alpine ■Southern Highlands Line

[edit] Stopping Patterns

  • Pattern 1: Campbelltown, all stations to Turrella, then Sydenham, Redfern and the City Circle and vice-versa (early morning only).
  • Pattern 2: Macarthur, all to the City Circle via the Airport line and vice-versa(early morning only).
  • Pattern 3: Macarthur, all stations to East Hills, Padstow, Riverwood, Kingsgrove, Wolli Creek and all stations to the City Circle via the Airport line and vice-versa(peak and off-peak).*
  • Pattern 4: East Hills, all stations to the City Circle via the Airport line and vice-versa (peak and off-peak).
  • Pattern 5: Macarthur, all stations to East Hills, Revesby, Beverly Hills, Sydenham, Redfern, all stations to the City Circle and vice-versa. (weekday peak hours only).
  • Pattern 6: Macarthur, Campbelltown, Glenfield, Holsworthy, Kingsgrove, Wolli Creek and all stations to the City Circle via the Airport line (one weekday morning peak service to the City only).
  • Pattern 7: Kingsgrove, all stations to the City Circle via Wolli Creek and the Airport line and vice-versa. (weekday afternoon peak and late evening only).†[12]
Note: means that not all services on this pattern service this station:

* Some services on this route do not proceed to or from Macarthur (but terminate at and proceed from Campbelltown). Some services also do not stop at Ingleburn and Glenfield (weekday morning peak hours), and at Macquarie Fields (weekday afternoon peak hours). Some services do not stop at Kingsgrove.

† Some services on this route do not stop at Bexley North, Bardwell Park, or Turrella.

[edit] Criticisms

Since the opening of the Airport Line, the line as a whole has been beset by falling passenger numbers and by a consistent failure to meet passenger targets. From the beginning, a major criticism of the line was that it is not served by dedicated rolling stock, as has occurred elsewhere such as in the Hong Kong MTR's dedicated Airport Express line. Travellers entering the line at Domestic and International must compete for space with commuters from the East Hills line, and find that the trains have no special provision for their luggage.

Despite the cancellation of the rival Airport Express bus service, taxi surcharges and expensive airport parking, the Airport Link has consistently failed to meet patronage targets. In 2000, the Airport Link Company went into receivership, exposing the government to costs of around $800 million; it was put up for sale in early 2006.[13] The Government has to date refused requests to buy back the Airport Link stations. Together with the troubled Cross City Tunnel, the Airport Link served to dampen government and business enthusiasm for further public private partnerships in transport in New South Wales.[14]

Less than a year after the line opened, the State Rail Authority complained that "patronage has been lower than expected to date" on the Airport Line, but they remained optimistic, believing "that as airport users become more familiar with this facility and the ingrained habits of many years gradually alter, patronage will continue to increase,"[15] The following year, the Airport Link Company went into receivership. State Rail blamed "lower than expected patronage" and claimed to be working with the company to increase it.[16]

In October 2005, the Government and the company signed a revised agreement on revenue and patronage, settling the latter's claims against the former. The Government paid $34 million to the company, with another $73 million due as CityRail earns revenue from Airport Line business.[17]

Apart from the Airport Line's troubles, the line as a whole also suffered a substantial loss in patronage when the M5 East Tunnel opened in 2002. The tunnel joined the Eastern Distributor and M5 South Western Motorway, shortening road travel times between the city and the south west. The line was estimated to have lost 384,450 commuters over 12 months after the tunnel opened.[18] Since that time, however, the line appears to have gained commuters again, with a reported 3.5% increase in patronage up to early 2006.[19]

The planned CBD Rail Link also has presented a problem to the Airport Line. One of the proposed routes involves linking the Airport Line to the new Rail Link. In 2005, a report by the Rail Infrastructure Corporation on the impact of the line's construction alleged that building the Rail Link could interrupt services on the line altogether; alternatively , it would require train services to travel in one direction, and slow down at construction points on the line. This, it was alleged, would add to the $98.5 million compensation bill which the Government had been forced to pay.[20] On 17 February 2006 the Government amended its Environmental Planning Policy to cover two potential rail corridors for the new line, one of which includes a link with the Airport Line.[21] As of October 2007, no work has been done to clarify a final corridor.

[edit] Future

Revesby Station will be upgraded as part of the CityRail Clearways Project with two extra platforms and four tracks.
Revesby Station will be upgraded as part of the CityRail Clearways Project with two extra platforms and four tracks.
Main articles: CityRail Clearways Project and South West railway line, Sydney

CityRail's Rail Clearways Program includes two construction projects for the line, to expand its capacity. Firstly, the turnback with one platform at East Hills will be replaced by a turnback with 2 platforms at Revesby.[22] Secondly, the two track section between Kingsgrove and Revesby will be expanded to four tracks. These projects will allow all stations services originating from Revesby to be segregated from the limited stop service originating from Campbelltown and Macarthur, in effect forming two separate lines.[23]

As well as the projects under the Clearways Program, the State Government has plans to expand the operation of the line to the new "Growth Sectors" in the south-west of Sydney. As part of this plan (the Metropolitan Rail Expansion Program (MREP)), the South West Rail Link will be built by the Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation from Glenfield to Leppington, New South Wales, with two new stations at Edmondson Park and Leppington itself, serving the new town centres to be built there. Up to 10 new trains will be built for the line, providing a 15 minute service between Leppington and the city via the East Hills line. In conjunction with the new line, Wolli Creek Station is expected to have two extra platforms constructed to service passengers on the future Campbelltown Express line to access the city. These projects are expected to be finished by 2012.[24]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mok, Danny "FordGhia's Railway & Transport in Australia Page: East Hills Line Information & Photos", Accessed 3 February 2003.
  2. ^ a b c Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: East Hills Line: History", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  3. ^ "NSW Rail Historical Timetables: Pre CityRail", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  4. ^ "Bus Australia: STA Withdrawn Fleet List", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  5. ^ Airport Link Company, "Airport Link: How to get from the Airport to the City", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  6. ^ Rail Corporation New South Wales, "Passenger Fares & Coaching Rates Handbook", 2 July 2006. Accessed 4 February 2008.
  7. ^ Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: NSW Station Codes". Accessed June 19, 2002.
  8. ^ Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: Main South Line". Accessed 10 July 2007.
  9. ^ Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: South Coast Line". Accessed 10 July 2007.
  10. ^ Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: City Circle". Accessed 1 July 2007.
  11. ^ Transport InfoLine, "Fares & Passes: Travelpass: CityRail Map", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  12. ^ a b CityRail, "CityRail Timetables: Airport & East Hills Line", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  13. ^ Baker, Jordan & Nixon, Sherrill, "For sale: ghost train to Sydney Airport", Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March 2006. Accessed 30 December 2006.
  14. ^ Moore, Matthew, "Open Secrets", Sydney Morning Herald, 31 October 2005. Accessed 7 January 2007.
  15. ^ State Rail Authority of New South Wales, Annual Report 1999-2000, p4.
  16. ^ State Rail Authority of New South Wales, Annual Report 2000–2001, p?.
  17. ^ Rail Corporation New South Wales, Annual Report 2005–6, pp. 59 & 81.
  18. ^ Kerr, Joseph, "Motorway takes toll on rail trips", Sydney Morning Herald, April 2, 2003. Accessed 30 December 2006.
  19. ^ Pearlman, Jonothan, "Passengers crowd onto fewer trains", Sydney Morning Herald, March 3, 2006. Accessed 30 December 2006.
  20. ^ Kerr, Joseph, "City line could add to Airport Link bill", Sydney Morning Herald, 1 June 2005. Accessed 17 October 2007.
  21. ^ Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, "CBD Rail Link: Project Profile". Accessed 17 October 2007.
  22. ^ Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, "Revesby Turnback: Project Profile", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  23. ^ Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, "Kingsgrove to Revesby Quadruplication: Project Profile", Accessed 30 December 2006.
  24. ^ New South Wales State Government, "New South Wales State Plan", 2006, Appendix, p. 5. Accessed 30 December 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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