Newcastle railway line, New South Wales
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The Newcastle railway line is a branch railway line in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The line branches from the Main North line at Broadmeadow and travels in an easterly direction through the inner suburbs of Newcastle to Newcastle station. CityRail operates electric passenger train services over this line as part of its Newcastle and Central Coast line service, and diesel railmotors to Maitland and beyond as part of its Hunter line regional service.
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[edit] History
A line between Newcastle and the then much larger settlement at Maitland was first proposed in 1853 by the proponents of the original Sydney- Parramatta railway. The Hunter River Railway Company was fomed later that year and the line was surveyed, however the private company failed and was bought out by the NSW government[1]. Construction continued until the line opened in 1857[2], and was electrified in the 1980s.
The terminus at Newcastle was moved to various locations throughout the years, and has variously been named Honeysuckle and Honeysuckle Point. It was moved to its current location in 1872 and took its final name of Newcastle in 1935 when Civic and Wickham stations opened. A mortuary station opened in 1883 to serve trains departing for the Sandgate Cemetery. It closed in 1933. A large goods yard, the Newcastle Goods yard was constructed east of Newcastle station in 1858. This has now been closed and almost no trace remains. The line was duplicated in 1864. The Main North Line from Sydney connected at Hamilton Junction in 1887.
[edit] Threatened closure
A criticism of the line has been that it cuts Newcastle off from its own harbour foreshore. As a proposed solution to this, since 2003 there have been studies to close the line and have Broadmeadow station become the major rail transport hub for the Newcastle region.[3]
In 2005 there was a move pushed by business and property development interests to close the line with the proposal to redevelop the foreshore. This was widely criticised by among others Upper Hunter Valley users, and former Deputy Prime Minister and rail enthusiast Tim Fischer.[4][5] Originally the New South Wales government had decided to close the line but later in 2006 and after a huge public outcry the Premier Morris Iemma announced that the line would stay open although in 2007 tenders were placed for a study into the lines future, including possible removal of the overhead wires and 'dieselisation' of services.[6]
[edit] Services
Passenger and goods services were operated by steam haulage from inception. In 1961, the 620/720 class diesel railcars were introduced to provide local suburban service to Maitland and south to Fassifern and Toronto on the Toronto branch line. Long haul trains to Sydney were operated by steam haulage until their final withdrawal from Sydney-Newcastle services in 1971, and from goods haulage in 1972. Diesel haulage was introduced, reaching a peak in 1982 when the 81 class locomotives for foods traffic were introduced.
In 1984, the line was electrified when the electrification project from Wyong to Newcastle was completed and electrified local and long distance services were introduced south to Sydney. Local services to Maitland and beyond continue to be served by diesel railcars. The Endeavour cars from 1994, and the Hunter cars from 2006, allowing the final withdrawal of the venerable 620/720 class cars.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Walters, C: The Great Northern Railway Newcastle to Maitland 150 years on Australian Railway History, April 2007. ARHS
- ^ Newcastle Branch. www.nswrail.net. Retrieved on 2006-05-01.
- ^ "Working group releases Newcastle city rail report", News Online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2003-11-21.
- ^ "Shires' group urged to oppose rail closure plan", News Online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005-06-08.
- ^ "Fischer outlines Newcastle rail plan", News Online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2005-09-12.
- ^ "Iemma backflips on Newcastle rail decision as Cabinet set to meet", News Online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2006-02-21.
