Bankstown Line

The Bankstown Line (numbered T3, coloured orange) is a commuter rail line operated by Sydney Trains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It serves Canterbury-Bankstown and parts of the Inner West and Western Sydney. The Bankstown railway line is the physical railway line which carries the section of the Bankstown Line between Sydenham and Birrong.

Bankstown Line
Overview
Service typeCommuter rail
LocaleSydney, New South Wales
First service15 October 1884 (1884-10-15)
Current operator(s)Sydney Trains
Route
StartCentral
Stops33
EndLiverpool, Lidcombe
Line(s) usedBankstown railway line
Technical
Rolling stockA & B, M, C, K
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge

History

Railway line history

The Bankstown railway line opened between Sydenham on the Illawarra railway line and Belmore in 1895.[1] This was the second solely suburban line to open in Sydney, following the North Shore railway line in 1890all other rail lines were mainlines carrying traffic into and out of Sydney. In 1909, the line was extended to Bankstown, with intermediate stations at Lakemba and Punchbowl. In 1916, the Metropolitan Goods Line was constructed, running parallel to the Bankstown Line between Marrickville and Campsie. A second extension, from Bankstown to Birrong, opened in 1928. This provided connections to the main suburban railway at Lidcombe and the main south line to Liverpool. A new station between Lakemba and Punchbowl at Wiley Park opened in 1938.

In 1926 the Bankstown Line became the second line in Sydney to be electrified and a maintenance depot was constructed at Punchbowl. Electrification was extended from Bankstown to Regents Park in 1939.[2] The Punchbowl Maintenance Depot closed in 1994.

In January 2006 a four-year project to upgrade the line was completed. The work included the resleepering of the entire line, replacing the former wooden sleepers with the more durable concrete ones, replacement and upgrade of the signalling, and also replacement of the ageing catenary, mostly with the more modern double contact wire variety. The lengthy upgrade process was noted for its "January Closedowns", in which the entire line was closed in January for the bulk of the upgrade work to take place.

Commuter line history

Electric passenger services operated along the Bankstown Line to Wynyard station until the 1956 opening of Circular Quay station and the completion of the City Circle. In 1979 with the opening of the Eastern Suburbs line the direction around the City Circle reversed with trips from Bankstown going to St James first and vice versa.

Operation of the Bankstown Line had been tied to the operation of all stations services on the Main Suburban railway line between Lidcombe and the City (marketed as the Inner West Line). Services consisted of a mixture of "Bankstown loop" trains (City - Sydenham - Bankstown - Lidcombe - Strathfield - City) and trains from both sides of the loop (Birrong or Regents Park) heading to Sefton and then further west. Until the early 2000s, a number of Bankstown trains continued via the Western Line to Blacktown via Granville and Parramatta.

A new timetable released in October 2013 broke the loop between the two lines. As part of the Rail Clearways Program, new turnbacks were constructed at Lidcombe and Homebush to allow the separation of both lines and increase their reliability and frequency. Services were also changed to operate mostly around the City Circle via Town Hall on weekdays (rather than via Museum). As part of the timetable change, a new numbering system was also introduced and the line was given the number T3. A sextuplication project between Erskinevile and Sydenham was also proposed as part of the Rail Clearways Program, but was cancelled in 2011. It was intended to separate Bankstown line services from those operating towards East Hills. The 2013 timetable sees most East Hills line trains using the Airport line to access the city.

The line was depicted in a brown colour in the early 1990s[3] before being changed to a purple colour around 2000,[4] before it became the current orange colour.

Future projects

Sydney Metro City & Southwest is a plan to convert the Sydenham to Bankstown section of the line to use single deck metro trains. A new tunnel will be constructed between Sydenham and Chatswood, for access to the city. The stations of St Peters, Erskineville and the stations west of Bankstown towards Lidcombe / Liverpool will not be served by the metro.[5] The NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into the Sydenham-Bankstown line conversion recommended that the direct train to City via Lidcombe be restored for commuters west of Bankstown.[6] The NSW Government rejected most recommendations from this report.[7]

In December 2020, it was confirmed that when the Bankstown Line closes for conversion to metro in 2024, the Liverpool to city service via Regents Park and Lidcombe will be reinstated and a shuttle branch service will run between Lidcombe and Bankstown.[8] Regents Park will be the main interchange point between both lines as the direct train between Bankstown and Liverpool will be withdrawn.

Description of line

The Bankstown line begins at Sydenham railway station on the Illawarra line. The line branches at Sydenham Junction and passes in a westwards direction to Bankstown, where it heads north to Birrong. Between Marrickville and Campsie, the Metropolitan Goods line runs in parallel. At Birrong, the line meets the Main South Line which runs from Lidcombe to Cabramatta via Regents Park.

Commuter line route

Passenger services begin at Town Hall station on the City Circle. Most services operate around the City Circle in a clockwise direction to Central, then through Redfern. However both inbound and outbound trains can also travel in the counterclockwise direction around the City Circle, as of the November 2017 timetable. Trains usually operate on the 'Illawarra local' (western pair) tracks between Redfern and Sydenham, serving St Peters and Erskineville stations. Just north of Sydenham, all trains take the turnout onto the 'Bankstown' tracks. At Sefton Park Junction (west of Birrong), about half of the Bankstown line trains continue north to Lidcombe. The other half goes west to Liverpool.

The line serves two major centres in Western Sydney, namely Bankstown and Liverpool.

T3 stations
Name Distance from
Central

[9] [10] [11] [12][13]

Opened

[9][10][11][12]

Railway line Serving suburbs Other lines
Town Hall – Birrong
Town Hall 1.2 km 1932 City Circle Sydney, Darling Harbour
Wynyard 2.1 km 1932 Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point
Circular Quay 3.0 km 1956 Circular Quay, Sydney
The Rocks, Millers Point
St James 4.3km

(dist via

Town Hall)

1926 Sydney
Museum 5km

(dist via

Town Hall)

1926 Sydney
Central 0 km 1855 Central, Strawberry Hills
Ultimo, Surrey Hills
Redfern 1.3 km 1878 Illawarra Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington
The University of Sydney

(T8 peak hours only)
Erskineville 2.9 km 1884 Erskineville, Macdonaldtown, Newtown none
St Peters 3.8 km 1884 St Peters, Alexandria, Erskineville, Newtown
(T8 peak hours only)
Sydenham 5.3 km 1884 Sydenham, Marrickville, St Peters
(T8 peak hours only)
Marrickville 6.6 km 1895 Bankstown Marrickville, Marrickville South none
Dulwich Hill 7.9 km 1895 Dulwich Hill, Marrickville, Hurlstone Park
Hurlstone Park 8.8 km 1895 Hurlstone Park, Canterbury
Canterbury 10.2 km 1895 Canterbury
Campsie 11.7 km 1895 Campsie
Belmore 13.3 km 1895 Belmore
Lakemba 14.5 km 1909 Lakemba
Wiley Park 15.4 km 1938 Wiley Park, Lakemba, Punchbowl
Punchbowl 16.5 km 1909 Punchbowl
Bankstown 18.7 km 1909 Bankstown
Yagoona 20.6 km 1928 Yagoona
Birrong 22.1 km 1928 Birrong
Birrong – Lidcombe
Regents Park 19.9 km 1912 Main South Regents Park none
Berala 18.4 km 1912 Berala
Lidcombe 16.6 km 1858 Lidcombe
Birrong – Liverpool
Sefton 21.2 km 1924 Main South Sefton none
Chester Hill 22.3 km 1924 Chester Hill
Leightonfield 23.7 km 1942 Villawood
Villawood 24.5 km 1924 Villawood
Carramar 25.9 km 1924 Carramar
Cabramatta 28.4 km 1870 Cabramatta
Warwick Farm 34.2 km 1889 Warwick Farm
Liverpool 35.7 km 1856 Liverpool

Patronage

The following table shows the patronage of Sydney Trains network for the year ending 30 June 2020.

2019–20 Sydney Trains patronage by line[n.b. 1] [14]
88073000
46992000
23287000
55784000
6854000
294000
1244000
37650000
21765000
  1. Figures based on Opal tap on and tap off data.
    = T6 Carlingford Line ceased operations in January 2020. Figure exclude rail replacement bus 535.

References

  1. "NSW Railway Passenger Services 1880-1905". Australian Railway History, April 2005. ARHS NSW Division.
  2. Brady, I. Sydney Electric Trains From 1926 to 1960. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Vol 52, no 762. April 2001.
  3. NSWrail map 1992
  4. Sydney Suburban Network map, 2000
  5. Sydney Metro. "Sydenham to Bankstown". Sydney Metro City & Southwest.
  6. "Sydenham-Bankstown Line conversion". www.parliament.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  7. NSW Government response Inquiry into the Sydenham-Bankstown line conversion Andrew Constance, Minister for Roads & Transport 7 October 2020
  8. "Rail options for west of Bankstown station in 2024 now confirmed". Transport for NSW. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  9. "NSW Rail.net Bankstown line". Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  10. "NSW Rail.net South Coast line". Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  11. "NSW Rail.net City Circle". Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  12. "NSW Rail.net Lidcombe-Cabramatta line". Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  13. "Driver Route Knowledge Diagrams - City Circle" (PDF). Railsafe. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  14. "Train Patronage - Monthly Figures". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 7 August 2020.

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