Southern Highlands railway line

The Southern Highlands Line is a section of the Main South railway line, and part of the CityRail outer suburban network. Its main service areas are the Southern Highlands Region (Wingecarribee Shire), the Southern Tablelands Region and the Wollondilly section of the Macarthur Region of New South Wales. It also includes the main focal points of Picton, Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and Goulburn. The line is exclusively serviced by diesel Endeavour trains, most being two cars long although some four-car services operate when in direct service to Central and or Goulburn. It is coloured green on a grey background on CityRail maps and other promotional material. Services first began to Goulburn on 19 May 1869.^[1]

For the most part, CityRail Southern Highlands Line services no longer travel through the suburban network. Most instead terminate at Campbelltown, with commuters requiring a change to a suburban service to proceed further. Only two services on weekends and weekdays (one to/from Goulburn, and one to/from Moss Vale) operate directly to Central. These travel through the suburban network via the Airport and East Hills Line and Sydenham. There are some discussions to extend the Southern Highlands line to Canberra. It would allow an express service to and from Central every 3–4 hours with a probable stopping pattern of: Canberra, all to Goulburn then Bundanoon, Moss Vale, Bowral, Mittagong, Campbelltown and Central and vice versa. In doing this, this will allow Goulburn and Southern Highland passengers a quicker and direct trip to Central, as currently most services require a change over at either Macarthur or Campbelltown.

Other than CityRail and freight services, this line is also used by CountryLink's southern services, including XPTs to Melbourne (Southern Cross Station) twice daily, and XPLORER services to Canberra (twice daily) and Griffith (once weekly).

Stations

All stations on the Southern Highlands Line (except Central) are in MyMulti Zone 3

Stopping Patterns

• Pattern 1: Goulburn, all stations to Campbelltown and vice-versa (early morning, morning peak hours, late evening (weekdays)).*
• Pattern 2: Moss Vale, all stations to Campbelltown (peak and off-peak).†
• Pattern 3: Goulburn, all to Moss Vale, Bowral, Mittagong, Picton, Macarthur, Campbelltown, Central (one morning peak express service to Central only).
• Pattern 4: Goulburn, all to Moss Vale and vice-versa (early morning and late evening on weekends and public holidays only).
• Pattern 5: Goulburn, all to Campbelltown, Glenfield,Central and vice versa. (early morning, late evening on weekend and peak in afternoon)

References

1. ^ Bozier, Rolfe, "New South Wales Railways: Main South Line", Accessed 18 May 2007.

Further reading

• Centenary of the Opening of the Southern Line to Picton Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, July, 1963

• Centenary of the Opening of the Southern Line to Mittagong Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, March, 1967

• Centenary of the Opening of the Southern Line to Goulburn Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, May, 1969