Northern railway line, Sydney

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Northern Line
Overview
Mode	Commuter rail line
Area	Strathfield, Canada Bay, Hornsby, Parramatta, Ryde, Sydney
Map colour	Red
Owner	CityRail
Design
Length	39 km
Stations	22
Connects	North Sydney, Town Hall, Central, Strathfield, Epping, Hornsby
2008	Epping to Chatswood Line Opened
Operations
Operator(s)	CityRail
Fleet	R, S, T, K sets
Depot(s)	Hornsby
Patronage	270,000[citation needed]
Public transport |  v • d • e

The Northern Line is part of the metropolitan rail network in Sydney known as CityRail, running between North Sydney and Hornsby via Strathfield and Central. It is part of the Main Northern Line, and serves suburbs in the Inner West, Lower North Shore and Hills District areas, crossing the Parramatta River between Rhodes and Meadowbank. It is denoted as red on CityRail network maps and other publicity.

[edit] History

The Northern Line is the suburban portion of the Main Northern Line which opened in as a single track line 1886. In 1892, the line was duplicated to Hornsby^[1], and electrified in 1926 as part of the Bradfield electrification scheme.

[edit] Line Description

Diagram of the Northern Line

The Northern Line crosses the Parramatta River at Meadowbank. Here, the old railway bridge has been converted to a cycleway.

The line physically begins at Strathfield where it branches from the South and Western Lines. The line that CityRail markets as the 'Northern Line' is the suburban section of the Main North Line which heads north to Newcastle and beyond. Train services that serve the Northern Line usually begin as a continuation of North Shore Line services in the north of Sydney at North Sydney station before heading across the Harbour Bridge and through the underground stations of Wynyard and Town Hall to Central and Redfern stations. Services then run along the Main Suburban Railway, usually using the inner 'Suburban' pair of the six tracks between Redfern and Strathfield. Services generally do not stop at intermediate stations between these two points. At Strathfield, trains usually head onto a flyover over the 'Main lines', before going over a bridge across Parramatta Road heading north on their own alignment.

The line between Strathfield and Hornsby is mostly double track, except for quadruple track sections between Thornleigh and Pennant Hills, and between Epping and West Ryde, and triple track sections at Thornleigh, Epping, and between Rhodes and Strathfield. A fourth track existed for freight between Concord West and Strathfield, although this has not been in use since around 2003. The line and stations are all at ground level or in cuttings.

As the line is the main railway heading north to Newcastle, the Hunter Valley, the North Coast, and Brisbane, CountryLink trains transit the line, as well as numerous freight trains. Although there used to be many sidings and freight yards along the line, these have all been removed except for the Gonarro sidings at Thornleigh.

[edit] Future

Diagram of the new Northern Line after the construction of Epping to Chatswood Line is complete. The line is marked in red.

The line route, which has not been altered since the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, is set to be changed significantly following the construction of the Epping to Chatswood link, due to open in 2008. Following this, the line will essentially be split in half. Services north of Epping will be diverted to run via the new line and the North Shore Line to free up much-needed space on the lines between Strathfield and Central. Services south of Epping will continue to use the existing route. The only trains likely to continue to use the whole existing route between Hornsby and Strathfield will be the express Intercity services on the Newcastle and Central Coast Line which share the same tracks.

[edit] Line Information

• More services serve the line in the Monday to Friday morning and evening peak hour services, where some services omit stops.

• All services depart from Hornsby & Eastwood (which is being used temporarily as a terminating station while the Epping to Chatswood Line is under construction.)

• During the daytime off peak & weekend daytime, almost all services terminate at Lindfield with some terminate at North Sydney (and will be the case until the ECRL is integrated into the network in early 2009).

• During the AM peak, most services continue to Hornsby for daytime stabling with selected services terminate at Gordon/North Sydney.

• During the PM peak, half of all citybound services (ones that are the "regular" half hourly service) continue to Lindfield and the supplementary service (which follow the regular service) continue to Gordon, returning to the Western Line on the subsequent trip.

[edit] Train Stations

Name of Station	Code	Distance from Central [2] [3] [4] [5]	Opened [2][3][4][5]	TravelPass Zone	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station			Connections
Northern Line
North Sydney	NSY	5.1 km	1932	Red	North Sydney				■North Shore Line
Combines with North Shore Line
Milsons Point	MPT	4.4 km	1932	Red	Milsons Point, Kirribilli				■North Shore Line
Wynyard	WYD	2.1 km	1932	Red	Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point				■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■Inner West Line   ■North Shore Line
Town Hall	THL	1.2 km	1932	Red	Sydney, Darling Harbour				■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■Inner West Line   ■North Shore Line ■South Coast Line (peak hours only)
Central	SBO	0 km	1855	Red	Central, Strawberry Hills, Ultimo, Surrey Hills				■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■South Line   ■Inner West Line ■Western Line   ■North Shore Line ■South Coast Line ■Blue Mountains Line ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line ■Southern Highlands Line (peak hours only)
Redfern	RDF	1.3 km	1878	Red	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington, The University of Sydney				■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line* ■Western Line   ■Inner West Line ■South Coast Line* ■Blue Mountains Line* ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line* *peak hours only
Burwood	BUW	10.6 km	1855	Green	Burwood		()		■Western Line   ■South Line   ■Inner West Line
Strathfield	SFD	11.8 km	1876	Green	Strathfield, Burwood				■Western Line   ■South Line   ■Inner West Line ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line ■Blue Mountains Line
Separates from Western Line
North Strathfield	NSF	13.4 km	1918	Green	North Strathfield, Strathfield, Concord West
Concord West	CCE	14.5 km	1887	Green	Concord West, Liberty Grove, Homebush Bay/Olympic Park
Rhodes	RHS	16.6 km	1886	Green	Rhodes, Rhodes Waterside, Liberty Grove
Meadowbank	MWK	18.2 km	1887	Green	Meadowbank, Shepherd's Bay, Putney, Melrose Park
West Ryde	WRD	19.2 km	1886	Green	West Ryde
Denistone	DST	20.2 km	1937	Green	Denistone (West)
Eastwood	EAW	21.4 km	1886	Green	Eastwood, Marsfield				■Newcastle & Central Coast Line
Epping	EPG	23.4 km	1886	Green	Epping, North Epping, Marsfield				■Epping to Chatswood line (under construction) ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line
Cheltenham	CHT	25.4 km	1898	Pink	Cheltenham
Beecroft	BCF	26.9 km	1886	Pink	Beecroft
Pennant Hills	PLL	28.6 km	1886	Pink	Pennant Hills
Thornleigh	THL	29.4 km	1886	Pink	Thornleigh, Westleigh
Normanhurst	NMH	31.7 km	1895	Pink	Normanhurst
Hornsby	HBY	33.9 km	1886	Pink	Hornsby, Waitara				■North Shore Line ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line

[edit] Stopping Patterns

All trains stop at North Sydney, Milsons Point, then all stations to Redfern, then

• Pattern 1: Burwood, Strathfield and all stations to Hornsby (off-peak & peak).
• Pattern 2: Strathfield, then West Ryde, Eastwood, Epping, and all to Hornsby (peak hours only).*
• Pattern 3: all stations to Eastwood (peak hours only).

and vice versa.

* only some trains on this pattern stop at Burwood.

[edit] References

1. ^ NSW Railway Passenger Services 1880-1905.. Australian Railway History, April 2005. ARHS NSW Division.
2. ^ ^{a b} NSW Rail.net Main North line. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
3. ^ ^{a b} NSW Rail.net North Shore line. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
4. ^ ^{a b} NSW Rail.net City Circle. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
5. ^ ^{a b} NSW Rail.net Main South line. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.

• Neety's Train Page - information on suburban stations.
• New South Wales Railways - historical information on suburban stations.
• Cityrail - current timetable.
• Australian Railmaps - information & maps of train services & stopping patterns.