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CityRail

For the passenger railway network in Brisbane, see: CityTrain

CityRail is the name of the extensive system of urban, suburban and interurban passenger railways based on metropolitan Sydney, the capital city of the State of New South Wales, Australia. Its intercity lines also extend outside of metropolitan Sydney to Newcastle, the Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, The Illawarra, the Shoalhaven, the Central Coast, and the Hunter Valley. Despite the extensive service, CityRail is frequently criticised as not being up to standard with other systems (especially those in Europe and the wealthier countries of Asia), and CityRail is often perceived as having outdated infrastructure, old trains, poor customer service, unreliable timetables, pervasive crime and low levels of cleanliness.

Most of the system is electrified with 1500 volts DC current supplied by overhead wire; however, some isolated sections outside the Sydney metropolitan area are still operated by diesel railcars. All electric trains in CityRail's fleet are double-decker electrical Multiple units.

CityRail is owned by the New South Wales State Government and is a "product group" of RailCorp, the state enterprise which operates the New South Wales Railways.

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CityRail: a hybrid system

CityRail is a hybrid of three different types of passenger railway - it is a combination of a metro-style underground railway system; a suburban commuter rail system and an inter-city rail system.

A person who lives in Blacktown thirty kilometres west of Sydney and works in the city centre two kilometres from Sydney's Central Station can catch a CityRail suburban service from his/her local station. However, the train does not terminate at Central Station; the train proceeds onward into the underground portions of the network in Sydney's CBD and some inner city neighbourhoods without the need to change trains or buy tickets from a different railway organisation.

CityRail also operates several intercity services which terminate at Central Station (though some services operate in the metro-style portions of the system in the peak hours). These lines stretch over 160km (100 miles) from Sydney, as far north as Scone, as far west as Lithgow, as far south-west as Goulburn and as far south as Bomaderry-Nowra.

==CityRail's underground system==Main article: Sydney underground railways

The underground lines in Sydney are:

CityRail's suburban network

The hub of the CityRail system is Central Station.

Trains on the East Hills , Airport and South Line (commonly coloured green), as well as trains from the Bankstown and Inner Wests (dull purple) lines proceed northwards from Central Station and travel either clockwise or anti-clockwise around the City Circle and then arrive back at Central Station, ready to start an outbound journey along any one of the Green or Purple lines.

Trains from the Western Line (yellow) and Northern Line (red) from the western and north-western suburbs proceed north from Central Station and stop at Town Hall and Wynyard underground stations. They then proceed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and continue to the North Shore Line. Conversely, trains from the North Shore Line continue through Central Station and on to either the Western or Northern lines.

The Illawarra Line (blue) trains from the southern suburbs dive underground west of Redfern station, and then stops at Redfern and then Central Station. Trains then continue to Bondi Junction, approximately 5km east of Sydney, along the mainly underground Eastern suburbs line.

There are two suburban lines within the Sydney metropolitan area which do not go to Central Station or the City Circle. One is the Cumberland Line (usually coloured bright lilac), a cross-suburban service from Campbelltown to Blacktown via Parramatta that was opened in the late 1990s. The other is the Carlingford Line (coloured indigo), a short mainly single-track branch in the western suburbs with infrequent train services that connect to South and Western Line services at Clyde Station.

CityRail's interurban network

In addition to the above suburban services which operate only within the Sydney metropolitan area, there are also express services linking Sydney to neighbouring regions outside the suburban area. The hub of these services is Sydney Terminal Station which is really a set of terminating platforms adjoining the through platforms of Central station.

There are four interurban lines radiating from Sydney:

  • The South Coast Line (blue) to the south as far as Bomaderry-Nowra with a short branch to Port Kembla
  • The Southern Highlands Line (green) to the south-west as far as Goulburn
  • The Blue Mountains Line (yellow) to the west as far as Lithgow
  • The Central Coast & Newcastle Line (red) to the north as far as Newcastle

There are also two regional lines originating in Newcastle called the Hunter Lines (dark purple) with trains operating between Newcastle and its satellite city of Maitland, where the line continues to either Dungog or Scone.

CityRail also operates several bus routes along corridors where the railway line has been closed to passenger traffic or fallen into disuse altogether. These bus services appear in CityRail timetables and accept CityRail tickets, however they are provided by private sector bus companies contracted by CityRail. As of 2004 these CityRail bus services were:

  • Wollongong to Moss Vale via Robertson
  • Picton to Mittagong via Thirlmere
  • Lithgow to Bathurst via Mt. Lambie
  • Fassifern to Toronto shuttle service

CityRail's fleet

CityRail operate, as of 2004, several distinct types of trains for suburban services:

  • Comeng/Goninan manufactured R sets (six cars)or S sets (four or eight cars)
  • "Chopper " sets consisting of six cars (C sets)
  • Air-conditioned K sets (four or eight cars)
  • Goninan manufactured Tangara trains (T sets)
  • EDi Rail manufactured Millennium trains (M set)
  • Two-car K sets used for Newcastle local services
  • Comeng/Goninan manufactured two-car sets (L sets) used for Wollongong local services

On the intercity services, different style trains usually operate with extra comforts (such as armrests and on-board toilets) to cater for longer distance journeys:

  • Comeng manufactured V sets
  • Goninan intercity Tangara "Outer Suburban" style trains (G set)

On the outer suburban network Newcastle older 620/720 Diesel Rail Motors are used. Endeavour Cars are also used for some Newcastle services to maitland and Dungong/Scone. New Hunter cars are being brought in to replace the older 620's.It is a new style of Diesel multiple unit coming out, under contruction now by EDi. New Outer Suburban Cars will also soon be in service.

History of CityRail

CityRail's origins go as far back as 1855 when the first railway in New South Wales was opened between Sydney and Parramatta, now a suburb of Sydney but then a major agricultural centre. The railway formed the basis of the New South Wales railways and was owned by the government from the commencement of operations. Passenger and freight services were operated from the beginning.

The State's railway system quickly expanded from the outset with lines radiating from Sydney and Newcastle into the interior of New South Wales, with frequent passenger railway services in the suburban areas of Sydney and Newcastle along with less frequent passenger trains into the rural areas and interstate. All services were powered by steam locomotives, though in the 1920s railcars powered by petrol were introduced for minor branch lines with low passenger numbers, both in metropolitan Sydney and rural areas.

The CityRail system as it exists today is really the result of the vision and foresight of John Bradfield, one of the most respected and famous civil engineers Australia has had. While he was involved in the design and construction of Sydney underground railways in the 1920s and 1930s, he is more famous for the associated design and construction of Sydney's greatest icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Corporate structure

Prior to the 1 January 2004, CityRail was a joint operation of the Rail Infrastructure Corporation and the New South Wales State Rail Authority (SRA), both state-owned entities. The State Rail Authority was responsible for the operation of CityRail's ticketing, public relations, political and corporate side. Meanwhile, the Rail Infrastructure Corporation, technically operating independently of the State Rail Authority, would be responsible for CityRail's fleet, track network and maintenance side.

However, 1 January 2004 marked the introduction of a new, also state-owned, entity called the Rail Corporation New South Wales, or just RailCorp. RailCorp's function is to join the State Rail Authority and the Rail Infrastructure Corporation's operations relating to CityRail under one entity. As a result, the State Rail Authority has been completely dissolved into RailCorp, and the Rail Infrastructure Corporation's duties of track and fleet maintenance have been transferred to RailCorp. The Rail Infrastructure Corporation, however, still has duties outside of the CityRail network, including interstate and rural lines, as well as freight services. CityRail has a loose affiliation with the New South Wales State Transit Authority , which manages Sydney's government bus, ferry and suburban T-Way network. Inner-city transport is supplemented by the privately owned Metro Transport Corporation, which manages Sydney City's small Lightrail (a modernised tram) and monorail network.

Electrification

Electrification came to Sydney's suburbs in 1926 with the first suburban electric service running between Sydney's Central Station and the suburb of Oatley approximately 20km south of Sydney. In the same year, the first underground railway was constructed from Central Station to St James in downtown Sydney. Electric trains that previously terminated at the Central Station continued north, diving underground at the Goulburn Street tunnel portal, stopping at the Museum underground station and then terminating at St James.

Other lines were quickly electrified soon after. Also, in conjunction with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge which opened in 1932, an additional underground line in downtown Sydney was constructed, connecting the North Shore line with Central Station via two downtown stations - Town Hall and Wynyard.

World War II interrupted programs for further electrification, however, the following extensive electric network was in place in 1948 spanning the suburban area:

  • St. James to Cronulla via Hurstville
  • St. James to East Hills
  • Wynyard to Bankstown via Sydenham
  • Wynyard to Bankstown via Strathfield
  • North Sydney to Hornsby via Strathfield
  • Hornsby - North Sydney - Parramatta
  • Hornsby - North Sydney - Liverpool via Granville
  • Lidcombe to Liverpool via Regents Park shuttle service

NightRide bus service

To provide a lower cost passenger service between 12:00 midnight and 05:00AM while leaving the tracks clear of trains for maintenance work, a parallel bus service was established in 1989. This is called the NightRide bus service and it operates typically at hourly intervals. Bus stops and railway stations do not of course perfectly coincide, but there is a reasonable approximation.

Future

In response to public allegations of poor service from CityRail, the government of New South Wales has announced that it intends to separate the existing CityRail lines into five independent lines with more reliable and frequent services. The five lines will be called "Rail Clearways" and are listed as the Illawarra and Eastern Suburbs Line, the Bankstown Line, the Campbelltown Express Line, the Airport & South Line and the North-West Lines. This project is said to be estimated to cost AUD$1 billion and to be complete by 2010.

The history of railways in New South Wales over the last 150 years, suggests that it is very unlikely that this project will proceed without delays, changes, cancellations and cost over-runs.

There is also news of a privately operated underground train line that will run from the CBD to Parramatta, reducing the current 1 hour+ trip to a ~12 minute trip. This service will operate in direct correlation with RailCorp, and will use CityRail's existing train stations and ticketing system, however the private company will charge an extra fee on top of the normal CityRail ticket price. The train fleet and rail infrastructure will be built and maintained by the private company.

See also

External links

Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04