Bankstown Line

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This article is about the Sydney Trains service that operates on the line. For the physical railway line, see Bankstown railway line.

Bankstown Line

A Sydney Trains M set at Campsie
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail
Locale	Sydney, New South Wales
First service	15 October 1884 (1884-10-15)
Current operator(s)	Sydney Trains
Route
Start	Central
Stops	33
End	Lidcombe, Liverpool
Line(s) used	Bankstown railway line
Technical
Rolling stock	A, M, C, K and S sets
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Sydney Trains services North Shore, Northern & Western Inner West & Leppington Bankstown Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Cumberland Carlingford Olympic Park Airport & South v t e

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.

Contents

• 
  1 History
  
  • 
    1.1 Railway line history
    
  
  
  • 
    1.2 Commuter line history
    
  
  
  • 
    1.3 Future projects
    
  
  


• 
  2 Description of line
  


• 
  3 Commuter line route
  
  • 
    3.1 Stations
    
  
  
  • 
    3.2 Patronage
    
  
  


• 
  4 References
  


• 
  5 External links
  

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 1890 - all 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 see 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

Main article: Sydney Metro City & Southwest

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 at St Peters, Erskineville and the Bankstown to Liverpool / Lidcombe sections of the line will not be served by the metro; service patterns for these sections have not been announced.

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

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[ v t e ] Bankstown Line
Legend
Km 3.0 Circular Quay ↓ 4.4 St James ↑ 2.1 Wynyard ↓ 5.0 Museum ↑ 1.2 Town Hall 0.0 Central Airport line 1.3 Redfern Main Suburban line 2.9 Erskineville 3.8 St Peters 5.3 Sydenham Metropolitan Goods line Illawarra line 6.6 Marrickville 7.9 Dulwich Hill 8.8 Hurlstone Park 10.2 Canterbury Cooks River 11.7 Campsie Metropolitan Goods line 13.3 Belmore 14.5 Lakemba 15.4 Wiley Park 16.5 Punchbowl 18.7 Bankstown 20.2 Yagoona 22.1 Birrong Metropolitan Goods line Main Suburban line 16.6 Lidcombe 19.9 Regents Park 18.4 Berala Main Suburban line 21.2 Sefton 22.3 Chester Hill 23.7 Leightonfield 24.5 Villawood 25.9 Carramar Prospect Creek Old Main South line 28.4 Cabramatta 34.2 Warwick Farm 35.7 Liverpool Main South line

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. Trains usually operate on the 'Illawarra local' (western pair) tracks between Redfern and Sydenham, serving St Peters and Erskineville stations. At 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.

Stations

Name	Distance from Central [5][6][7][8]	Opened [5][6][7][8]	Railway line	Serving suburbs	Other lines
Town Hall - Birrong
Town Hall	1.2 km	1932	City Circle	Sydney, Darling Harbour	T1 T2 T4 T8
Wynyard	2.1 km	1932		Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point	T1 T2 T8
Circular Quay	3.0 km	1956		Circular Quay, Sydney The Rocks, Millers Point	T2 T8
St James	km	1926		Sydney	T2 T8
Museum	km	1926		Sydney	T2 T8
Central	0 km	1855		Central, Strawberry Hills Ultimo, Surrey Hills	T1 T2 T4 T8
Redfern	1.3 km	1878	Illawarra	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington The University of Sydney	T1 T2 T4 T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Erskineville	2.9 km	1884		Erskineville, Macdonaldtown, Newtown
St Peters	3.8 km	1884		St Peters, Alexandria, Erskineville, Newtown	T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Sydenham	5.3 km	1884		Sydenham, Marrickville, St Peters	T4 T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Marrickville	6.6 km	1895	Bankstown	Marrickville, Marrickville South
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
Berala	18.4 km	1912		Berala
Lidcombe	16.6 km	1858		Lidcombe	T1 T2 T7
Birrong - Liverpool
Sefton	21.2 km	1924	Main South	Sefton
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	T2 T5
Warwick Farm	34.2 km	1889		Warwick Farm	T2 T5
Liverpool	35.7 km	1856		Liverpool	T2 T5

Patronage

The following chart shows the relative patronage of Sydney Trains' seven lines in the 2016-17 financial year.

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. 
   ^ ^ab "NSW Rail.net Bankstown line". Retrieved 1 July 2007. 
   


6. 
   ^ ^ab "NSW Rail.net South Coast line". Retrieved 1 July 2007. 
   


7. 
   ^ ^ab "NSW Rail.net City Circle". Retrieved 1 July 2007. 
   


8. 
   ^ ^ab "NSW Rail.net Lidcombe-Cabramatta line". Retrieved 1 July 2007. 
   

External links

• 
  "T3: Bankstown line timetable". Transport for NSW. 
  


• 
  CityRail News and Media - Completion of the Bankstown line upgrade


• 
  CityRail News and Media - History of the Bankstown line

v t e Public transport in Sydney
Train	Sydney Trains T1 North Shore, Northern & Western T2 Inner West & Leppington T3 Bankstown T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra T5 Cumberland T6 Carlingford T7 Olympic Park T8 Airport & South Sydney Metro Sydney Metro Northwest (under construction) Sydney Metro City & Southwest (under construction) Northwest Rapid Transit (operator) Lists List of Sydney Metro railway stations List of Sydney railway lines List of Sydney Trains railway stations Sydney rail rolling stock
Bus	Services B1 Metrobus 400 144 L90 NightRide Operators Busabout Busways Forest Coach Lines Hillsbus Interline Punchbowl Bus Company State Transit Transdev Transit Systems Infrastructure Liverpool–Parramatta T-way North-West T-way
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Light Rail	Services L1 Dulwich Hill CBD & South East (under construction) Parramatta (proposed) Rolling stock Variotram Urbos 2 Urbos 3 Citadis X05
Point-to-point	Taxis in New South Wales
Ticketing	Earlier ticketing systems Opal card
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