Bankstown 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 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
Transport for NSW rail services Sydney Trains North Shore, Northern & Western Airport, Inner West & South Bankstown Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Cumberland Carlingford Olympic Park NSW TrainLink Blue Mountains Central Coast & Newcastle Hunter South Coast Southern Highlands

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.

History

Railway line history

The Bankstown railway line opened between Sydenham on the Illawarra railway line and Belmore in 1895.^[1] This was the first solely suburban line to open in Sydney- 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 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.

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.

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

As part of the Rail Clearways Program, a sextuplication project was proposed in 2007 between Erskinevile and Sydenham to separate Bankstown line services from those operating towards East Hills. This plan was cancelled in 2011.

Sydney Trains Future highlights the conversion of the Bankstown Line and the Illawara Line to metro style trains building new tunnels underground to connect into a new CBD line and then onto the Second Harbour Crossing and the North West Rail Link. It is planned in 2030-2040 that the Bankstown Line will receive 15 single deck trains per hour that have smaller capacity loads than current double deckers. The Bankstown Metro Line will have the capacity to operate up to 30 trains an hour.

The newest plan for the Bankstown Metro, as part of Sydney Metro City & Southwest, is to truncate and terminate the single deck trains at Bankstown. The Regents Park-Sefton junction and Sefton-Liverpool sections will not be served by the Metro; service patterns for trains of the existing double-decker type, if any, have not been announced.

St Peters, Erskineville and Redfern are also not proposed to be part of the Metro due to very deep tunnels between Sydenham and Central, but will continue to be serviced by double-decker trains on the existing Illawara Line, at least until the conversion of the "local" Illawarra Line tracks to Metro trains.

In addition, a connection to a future high frequency light rail from Bankstown to Parramatta, Liverpool or some other destination have been suggested.

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. 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.

Services

Weekdays (Off-Peak)

• Liverpool, all stations to Bankstown, all stations to Sydenham, St Peters, Erskineville, Redfern, Central, Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St James, Museum then Lidcombe via Bankstown service (every 30 minutes)
• Lidcombe, Berala, Regents Park, Birrong, Yagoona, Bankstown, all stations to Sydenham, St Peters, Erskineville, Redfern, Central, Town Hall, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St James, Museum then Liverpool via Bankstown service (every 30 minutes)

Peak Hours

• Liverpool, all stations to Birrong, then Bankstown, Punchbowl, Lakemba, Belmore, Campsie, Marrickville, Sydenham, St Peters, Redfern, Central and then City Circle (every 15 minutes)
• Liverpool, all stations to Birrong, then Bankstown, Sydenham, Redfern, Central and then City Circle (one afternoon service at 5:14 from Liverpool)
• Lidcombe, Berala, Regents Park, Birrong, Yagoona, Bankstown, all stations to Sydenham, St Peters, Erskineville, Redfern, Central and then City Circle (every 15 minutes)

Weekends

• Liverpool, all stations to Bankstown, all stations to Sydenham, St Peters, Erskineville, Redfern, Central, Museum, St James, Circular Quay, Wynyard, Town Hall then Homebush via Strathfield (T2 Inner West Line) service (every 30 minutes)
• Lidcombe, Berala, Regents Park, Birrong, Yagoona, Bankstown, all stations to Sydenham, St Peters, Erskineville, Redfern, Central, Museum, St James, Circular Quay, Wynyard, Town Hall then Homebush via Strathfield (T2 Inner West Line) service (every 30 minutes)

Stations

References

External links

• "T3: Bankstown line timetable" (PDF). Sydney Trains. 20 October 2013 [amended January 2015]. 
• CityRail News and Media - Completion of the Bankstown line upgrade
• CityRail News and Media - History of the Bankstown line

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