Wolli Creek railway station

Wolli Creek railway station is an interchange station on the CityRail network, located in the high density Sydney suburb of Wolli Creek. The station serves three lines - the suburban Illawarra Line and Airport and East Hills Line, and the interurban South Coast line. There is one island platform on the four track Illawarra line (platforms 3 and 4) and two platforms below grade but open to the air on the Airport line (Platforms 1 and 2) - the lines they serve intersect at almost right angles. Lifts and stairs connect the platforms and the station entrance, as this is an Easy Access station.

History

The station was built as part of the Airport link, which opened in 2000. The name derives from a local creek branching from the Cooks River, and Wolli Junction is the name of the original junction point for the East Hills line from the Illawarra line at this site. In the initial concept for the Airport Line, no station was to be provided at this site, however the State Rail Authority (now RailCorp) decided to construct a station here as an interchange point with the new Airport line and the Illawarra line. The station, unlike the others built on the line, was constructed with government finance and hence is owned by RailCorp. In the initial concept and design phase, the station was designated as 'North Arncliffe', however this was changed to Wolli Creek in 1998 before it opened in 2000. During construction, a set of points allowing the cross-over of trains from the 'Illawarra local' lines to the 'Illawarra main' lines was moved further south. The Airport line tracks are designated as the 'New Southern Railway', this was the original name for the Airport line, and is still the technical name for it.^[1]

A secondary motivation was to promote urban renewal around the station site. The station is located on a former industrial site and siding, and the area around the station was occupied by light industrial businesses when the station opened in 2000. Since the station's opening, the suburb has been significantly redeveloped with high density housing which as of 2011 is ongoing. As part of this development, the Airport line platforms have been partially covered over.^[2]

Design

A perceived deficiency of the station is that there is only one island platform on the four track section of the Illawarra line, meaning that services using the 'Illawarra local' tracks have no means to stop at Wolli Creek. Though there are a set of points immediately south of the station to allow trains to cross-over from the 'Illawarra local' tracks to the 'Illawarra main' tracks to access platforms 3 and 4. Also, trains from the East Hills line travelling on to Tempe and Sydenham have no platforms at which to stop at Wolli Creek. This deficiency has been identified by RailCorp, and there are long term plans to construct additional platforms at Wolli Creek to enable better interchange of services.^[3]

Platforms and services

All trains via the Airport stop at Wolli Creek. All off-peak South Coast Line and Illawarra Line trains stop at Wolli Creek. Some peak hour services from both of these lines bypass the station as they utilise the 'Illawarra Local' tracks.

The station is served by ten to fourteen trains per hour each way, with additional trains during weekday peak hours.

Transport links

Sydney Buses runs one route from Wolli Creek station:

• Route 348 - to Bondi Junction via St Peters station, Zetland, Randwick

(Monday to Friday Only)

Gallery

Trackplan

Notes and references