Penshurst-Mortdale railway tunnel, Sydney

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The Penshurst-Mortdale railway tunnel, Sydney was first proposed by the Coordinator General of Rail, Ron Christie in June 2001. His report The Long-Term Strategic Plan for Rail was prepared for the Hon Carl Scully who was Minister for Transport and Roads in the NSW Government at the time. The report gave a timeline to guide the development of rail infrastructure in Sydney up until 2050.

The report stated that Triplication or quadruplication of the Illawarra line between Mortdale Yard Junction and Hurstville is a pre-requisite for operating more than 14 trains per hour north of Mortdale Yard so that additional fast trains from the South Coast and Cronulla can overtake "all stops" services from Sutherland. It reported that quadruplication would provide simpler operational patterns. To do this options such as tunnelling between Penshurst and Mortdale will need to be investigated, to minimise impacts on suburban centres and simplify access to and from the Mortdale Yard.