South Coast railway line, New South Wales

Public transport infrastructure in Sydney
logo=
name=South Coast line
transport_mode=Interurban rail line
Coach service
line_owner=CityRail
operation_area=Wollongong
Shellharbour
Kiama
Shoalhaven
map_colour=Blue/Grey
line_length=153 km
stations_number=40
interchange_names=Central
Wollongong
Port Kembla (branch)
Dapto
Bundanoon (by coach)
Kiama
Bomaderry (Nowra)
operator_names=CityRail
fleet_names=H, L, G, V sets; Endeavour railcars
depot_names=Mortdale for L and G sets, Flemington for V sets, Eveleigh for H sets
date_1=1887
event_1=Opened

The South Coast Line is in the intercity region of Sydney's CityRail services. It serves the coastal region to the south of the Sydney metropolitan area including the Illawarra region, most notably the regional city of Wollongong, and extended services reach as far as Nowra in Shoalhaven.

Line naming

The line is operationally and historically known as the "Illawarra Line" throughout its length from the Illawarra Junction at Redfern to its terminus in Bomaderry. CityRail currently markets the suburban services to Waterfall and Cronulla as the "Illawarra line" and interurban services south to Wollongong and Bomaderry as the "South Coast line".

Description of route

uburban section

[Illawarra Line. Railcorp track diagram, 09 September 2002] The South Coast (Illawarra) line commences at the "Illawarra Junction" at Redfern. Here, a dive-under allows inter-city services from the South Coast line to cross underneath the main suburban railway lines to access Sydney Terminal. From the Illawarra junction, four tracks head south through the stations of Erskineville and St Peters to Sydenham. Immediately north of Erskineville station, the Illawarra lines are connected to the "Illawarra Relief Lines" which emerge from underground. These lines form the Eastern Suburbs line which opened in 1979. Heading south from Erskineville, the eastern-most pair of tracks are the "Up and down Illawarra" lines which usually carry the Illawarra line passenger services.

The western-most pair of tracks are the "Up and Down Illawarra local tracks" which usually carry Bankstown and East Hills line express trains. To the west of the four tracks between Erskineville and Sydenham lies a reservation for a further pair of tracks with partially constructed platforms at Erskineville and St Peters stations. There are current plans to complete these tracks under the Rail Clearways plan, these tracks will be known as the "Up and Down Illawarra relief lines".cite web| work=TIDC | title=TIDC | url=http://www.tidc.nsw.gov.au/ViewSite.aspx?PageID=471 | accessdate=14 December | accessyear=2006]

At Sydenham, six platforms are provided, with Bankstown line services generally using the western-most pair (platforms 1 and 2), East Hills peak hour services using the inner pair (platforms 3 and 4) and Illawarra line services usuing the easternmost pair of platforms (platforms 5 and 6). South of Sydenham, the Bankstown line branches off in a westwards direction. The Botany Goods Line crosses over the Illawarra line via a flyover. The line then reaches Tempe station, before crossing the Cooks River.

South of the Cooks River lies Wolli Creek station, where the East Hills line branches off in a westerly direction. The Illawarra line continues south as four tracks through a rock cutting to the stations of Arncliffe (2 side platforms and an island platform), Banksia (2 island platforms) and Rockdale. Rockdale station has five platforms, platform 1 (the most westerly platform) is currently unelectrified and disused but was previously been a terminating point for electric passenger trains. South of Rockdale, the line passes through Kogarah station (one island platform 2 & 3 and 2 side platforms 1 & 4) which has a shopping centre built overhead. The line the makes a westerly turn, heading through Carlton and Allawah stations (both with two island platforms).

The next station is Hurstville (2 island platforms), which is where the four track section ends and terminating facilities are provided. Like Kogarah, Hurstville has a shopping centre built above the platforms. South of Hurstville, the line becomes 2 tracks with bidirectional signalling. The line passes through Penshurst and Mortdale (island platforms). At Mortdale is the Mortdale train depot which lies on the eastern side of the tracks with access points from the south of the station. The line then continues to Oatley which has an island platform and a set of points allowing trains to be turned-back. The line then crosses the Georges River over the Como Bridge, which opened in 1972 .

At Sutherland, three platforms are provided. The Cronulla Line branches off in an eastwards direction south of the station. The former short branch line to Woronora Cemetery branched in a westerly direction at the south of the platforms. The line opened on 28 July, 1900 and closed on 27 August, 1944 ["The Woronora Cemetery Branch Railway" Neve, Peter Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, August, 1993 pp187-195] . The line then continues south through Loftus, Engadine, and Heathcote (all side platform stations). South of Loftus, the former Royal National Park line branched off, this has now been converted into a tram line connecting to the Sydney Tramway Museum, and connections to the mainline have been severed. The final station for the operation of suburban services is Waterfall station, which is an island platform. At Waterfall, there is a train stabling yard and a train turnback (shunting road) south of the station. South of Waterfall is the site of the 2003 Waterfall train disaster.

Inter-urban section

The line then heads south through the challenging terrain of the Royal National Park and Illawarra escarpment. The line makes a steep decent down to Wollongong. The original alignment through the towns of Helensburgh and Lilyvale which opened in 1888 was bypassed by a new route in 1915. A new station at Helensburgh (island platform) was subsequently opened with the new alignment ["The Helensburgh Deviation" Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin May, 1966 pp97-106] . A set of points allows the turnback of trains at Helensburgh. The line then proceeds through several tunnels down the Illawarra escarpment through the hamlets of Stanwell Park and Coalcliff.

South of Coalcliff, the line becomes single track as it passes through the Coalcliff tunnel, before becoming double track again near Scarborough station. The line then proceeds south through the northern suburbs of Wollongong, then Wollongong and its southern suburbs. A terminating platform is provided at Thirroul, which is used to terminate peak hour services from Sydney, as well as local services.

At Coniston south of Wollongong, an electrified branch line heads east to Port Kembla. At Unanderra, the line to Moss Vale branches off to head west over the Illawarra escarpment to join the Main South line. Double tracking ends here at Unanderra, the line continues south as a single line track. The line continues south through Kembla Grange where a simple platform serves the Kembla Grange racecourse. The line then reaches Dapto where a passing loop is provided. Dapto was the southern extent of electrification until 2001cite web| work=Railcorp | title=RIC Annual report 2001-2002 | url=http://www.railcorp.info/__data/assets/file/753/RIC_Annual_Report_2001-2002.pdf | accessdate=8 January | accessyear=2007]

The line then passes south through the hamlet of Albion Park Rail (where another crossing loop is provided) to reach Kiama, the current extent of electrification. South of Kiama, the line continues as a single track non-electrified line through rolling dairy pastures via several tunnels to the towns of Gerringong and Berry before arriving at its terminus at the town of Bomaderry on the northern bank of the Shoalhaven River. At Bomaderry, sidings connect to the Manildra Group's starch mill cite web| work=Parliament of Australia | title=Submission of shoalhaven City, 9 May 2005 | url=http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/trs/networks/subs/sub044.pdf| accessdate=8 January | accessyear=2007] .

Port Kembla branch

At Coniston, an electrified branch line proceeds east to the industrial suburb of Port Kembla with three intermediate stations.

The line is double track as far as Cringila and is used by freight trains as well as local CityRail passenger services. A stabling yard is provided at Port Kembla for overnight storage of electric trains.

History

The Illawarra Line branched off the Main Suburban Railway south of Redfern, at Eveleigh ("Illawarra Junction") reaching Hurstville in 1884, Sutherland in 1885, Waterfall in 1886, Bulli, Wollongong, Unanderra and Bombo in 1887 and Kiama and Bomaderry, across the Shoalhaven River from the town of Nowra in 1893. [cite web | url=http://www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW:south_coast | title=South Coast line | publisher=www.nswrail.net | accessdate=2006-11-26 ] In 1886, a branch line was opened to the Royal National Park, which was closed in 1991. Electrification was completed in stages from Sydney to Loftus (1926), Waterfall (1980), Wollongong (1985), Dapto (1993) and Kiama (November 2001). The Kiama-Nowra section remains unelectrified. In 1924, work began on a 57 km line connecting Unanderra with Moss Vale on the Great Southern line, which was opened in 1932. It enabled the transportation of limestone from the Southern Highlands to the coast at Port Kembla. "See: Unanderra - Moss Vale railway line"

On 31st of January 2003, a Tangara passenger train derailed at high speed south of Waterfall station after its driver suffered a heart attack. The Waterfall train disaster resulted in seven fatalities and multiple injuries.

Passenger services

The South Coast line passenger services currently consist of electric double deck multiple unit trains that operate between Bondi Junction or Central and either Wollongong, Kiama or Port Kembla. Diesel shuttle trains connect at Wollongong or Kiama and operate to Nowra. Although electrified to Wollongong in 1985, several diesel trains operated between Sydney and Nowra until 1991, one of which was the "South Coast Daylight Express", operated as a locomotive hauled train of Budd and Tulloch type passenger cars which included catering facilities. [Walters, C. "The Last Daylight." Railway Digest 1991, ARHS NSW.]

References