Inner West railway line

Inner West Line
Mode	Commuter rail line
Owner	CityRail
Operator(s)	CityRail
Connects	Museum Town Hall Central Strathfield Liverpool
Stations	25
Fleet	R, S, C, T, G, M & A sets
Line colour	Violet
Key dates
1855	Opened

The Inner West Line is a railway line located in the Inner West region of Sydney, Australia. It runs on the section of track sometimes known as the Main Suburban railway line.

Main Suburban Line

The Main Suburban railway line is the technical name for the trunk railway line between Redfern railway station and Parramatta railway station in Sydney, Australia, but now generally refers to the section between Redfern and where the Old Main South Line branches off at Granville Junction. This term distinguished this trunk line from the Illawarra Line which branched south from the Illawarra Junction to Wollongong, and later the North Shore tracks which carried trains north over the Harbour Bridge.

This section of railway line is Sydney's oldest, opening in 1855. The line was quadruplicated to Flemington in 1892. The line saw its most dramatic change in the period 1926-1927, when the section from Redfern to Homebush was expanded from four to six tracks by the addition of two tracks initially intended for non-electric express trains. Prior to 1926, all stations on the line had platform faces to all four tracks, and the tracks were labelled as 'fast' and 'slow'. After the completion of works in 1927, only Redfern and Strathfield had platform faces on all six tracks. The four tracks now known as the 'Up and Down Local lines' and the 'Up and Down Suburban Lines' were electrified in 1928. It was not until 1955 that the 'Up and Down Main Lines' were also electrified to coincide with the opening of the Blue Mountains electrification programme. On 5 October the Have A Wiring Problem At Casula Station, So Train Stop At All Stations To Campbelltown Then Switch Tracks At Casula. Trains Will Operate To Macarthur On The South Line. Inner West And South Lines Will Operate To Town Hall stopping at Warwick Farm, Carammata, Canley Vale, Fairfield, Yennora, Gulidford, MerryLands And Then Strathfeld, Burwood, Redfern, Central, Museum, St James, Circular Quay, Wynyard and Town Hall.

Description of route

The route of the Inner West Line consist of three pairs of tracks between Central and Strathfield stations (six tracks in total), designated as Main (the northern-most pair), Suburban (the inner pair) and the Local (the southernmost pair) lines. At Strathfield, the Main North Line branches off, and four tracks continue westwards. At Lidcombe, the Main South line branches off towards Regents Park and on to Cabramatta where the line meets the Old Main South from Granville, continuing south to Liverpool and beyond. What CityRail currently markets as the Inner West Line are services which originate from an anti-clockwise direction around the City Circle, passing through Redfern and along the 'local' pair of tracks to Strathfield, then on through Lidcombe to Regents Park. Here trains alternately operate along the 'Main South' to Liverpool via Cabramatta, or to Bankstown, becoming Bankstown line services.

History

The Inner West line between Redfern and Granville is the route of the first railway line to be constructed in New South Wales. The first company to start rail transport in New South Wales was the Sydney Railway Company which was incorporated on 10 October 1849 with the aim of building a railway from Sydney to Parramatta. Capital was raised, shares were sold, and a route was surveyed. The first sod was turned by Mrs Keith Stewart (daughter of the Governor) at Cleveland Paddocks (an area between the southern end of the current Sydney station and Cleveland Street) on 20 May 1850.

The original engineer appointed was Francis Webb Sheilds, an Irishman. He persuaded the New South Wales legislature to pass an Act on 27 July 1852 requiring all railways in the colony to be of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge. This was the gauge in use in Ireland and is now referred to as 1600 mm gauge. After Shields resigned because of the difficulties, a Scot named James Wallace was appointed. Wallace persuaded the legislature to repeal the previous act and replace it, on 4 August 1853, with one requiring a gauge of 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) - the current standard gauge. (Unfortunately for Australia, the legislation requiring the broad gauge had been noted in the colonies of Victoria and South Australia and some rolling-stock ordered.)

The Sydney Railway Company encountered many troubles: engineers came and went; real estate required became expensive and difficult to acquire; money, supplies and manpower ran short, partly because of a gold rush. Eventually the property of the Sydney Railway Company was transferred to the government of New South Wales on 3 September 1855.

The line opened on 26 September 1855, from Sydney to Parramatta Junction (near Granville Station), with stations at Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood and Homebush. The Sydney terminal station was on the south side of Devonshire Street, just south of the current Central Station. Although the vicinity was sometimes referred to as Redfern, it was not near the current Redfern station.

Current services

The current line runs from City Circle to Central, then to Strathfield, Lidcombe, Regent's Park, Cabramatta, and Liverpool. Services only operate over the entire route length of the line during weekday peak hours only. Peak hour operation consists of two trains per hour between Liverpool and the City operating express between Ashfield and Redfern, two trains per hour between Ashfield and the City and two trains per hour between Regents Park (from Bankstown) to the City. Off peak service consists of the latter two service types only (that is, no service between Liverpool and Regents Park- this section is serviced by the Bankstown Line at these times). Weekend service consists only of two trains per hour between Regents Park (from Bankstown) to the City and an additional two all station services per hour from Ashfield to the City between 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. When the CityRail Clearways Project is complete, and it is anticipated that services will operate from a new platform and turnback at Homebush, then clockwise around the City Circle onto the East Hills Line or Bankstown Line. In 2009-2010, 96.4% of all Inner West services ran on-time ranking 4th out of all the Cityrail lines.

Nomenclature

Prior to 1996, the Inner West line was considered part of the Bankstown Line and was coloured brown on promotional material and directional signage. A timetable named Parramatta Line carried details of all services between Parramatta and the City, including Northern, Southern, Western and Bankstown line services. The section between Lidcombe and Cabramatta via Regents Park was considered part of the Macarthur Line (what is now the South Line), and was colour-coded green. From 1996, when the Merrylands to Harris Park Y- Link opened and the timetable was re-written, the Lidcombe to Cabramatta via Regents Park section was colour coded brown and a new timetable labelled Liverpool- City via Regents Park was published. The August 1999 timetable revision saw the term Inner West Line used for the first time, and the line was colour coded purple which it has maintained to the present day.

Inner West Line stations

Name of Station	Code	Distance from Central	Opened	MyMulti Zone	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station			Connections
through service continues from ■Bankstown Line
Inner West Line
Town Hall	THL	1.2 km	1932	One	Sydney, Darling Harbour				■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■North Shore Line   ■Northern Line ■South Coast Line (peak hours only)
Wynyard	WYD	2.1 km	1932	One	Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point				■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■North Shore Line   ■Northern Line
Circular Quay	CQY	3.0 km	1956	One	Circular Quay, Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point				■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line
St James	SAJ	km	1926	One	Sydney				■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line
Museum	MSM	km	1926	One	Sydney				■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line
Central	SBO	0 km	1855	One	Central, Strawberry Hills, Ultimo, Surry Hills				■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■South Line   ■North Shore Line ■Western Line   ■Northern Line ■South Coast Line ■Blue Mountains Line ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line ■Southern Highlands Line (peak hours only)
Redfern	RDF	1.3 km	1878	One	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington, The University of Sydney				■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line* ■Western Line   ■Northern Line ■South Coast Line* ■Blue Mountains Line* ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line* *(peak hours only)
Macdonaldtown	MAC	2.5 km	1878	One	Macdonaldtown, Erskineville, Newtown, Redfern
Newtown		3.1 km	1855	One	Newtown, Erskineville, Macdonaldtown				■South Line
Stanmore	SMN	4.7 km	1878	One	Stanmore
Petersham	PSM	5.5 km	1857	One	Petersham
Lewisham	LWI	6.3 km	1886	One	Lewisham, Petersham
Summer Hill	SMH	7.0 km	1879	One	Summer Hill
Ashfield	AFD	8.4 km	1855	One	Ashfield				■South Line
Croydon	CYD	9.4 km	1875	One	Croydon				{South line}}
Burwood	BUW	10.6 km	1855	Two	Burwood				■Western Line   ■South Line   ■Northern Line
Strathfield	SFD	11.8 km	1876	Two	Strathfield, Homebush				■Western Line   ■South Line   ■Northern Line ■Newcastle & Central Coast Line ■Blue Mountains Line
Homebush	HSH	12.7 km	1855	Two	Homebush
Flemington	FMG	14.3 km	1884	Two	Flemington
Lidcombe	LDC	16.6 km	1858	Two	Lidcombe				■Western Line   ■South Line   ■Bankstown Line ■Olympic Park Line
Berala	BAA	18.4 km	1912	Two	Berala
Regents Park	RGP	19.9 km	1912	Two	Regents Park
Most Inner West Line trains run via the ■Bankstown Line, with limited weekday services continuing to Liverpool via the following stations.
Sefton	SFT	21.2 km	1924	Two	Sefton				■Bankstown Line
Chester Hill	CHH	22.3 km	1924	Two	Chester Hill
Leightonfield	LHF	23.7 km	1942	Two	Leightonfield
Vilawood	VWD	24.5 km	1924	Two	Villawood
Carramar	CMR	25.9 km	1924	Two	Carramar
Cabramatta	CTT	28.4 km	1870	Two	Cabramatta				■South Line   ■Bankstown Line ■Cumberland Line
Warwick Farm	WKF	34.2 km	1889	Two	Warwick Farm
Liverpool	LPO	35.7 km	1856	Two	Liverpool				■South Line   ■Bankstown Line ■Cumberland Line
Limited services continue to Glenfield and Campbelltown via the ■South Line.

Stopping Patterns

• Pattern 1: All stations to Ashfield (& vice-versa) (off-peak & peak).
• Pattern 2: All stations to Regents Park (& vice-versa) (off-peak & peak) then continues to run onto the Bankstown line to Bankstown and the City Circle via Sydenham.
• Pattern 3: All stations to Liverpool, via Regents Park (& vice-versa) (peak hours only).

The current off-peak service pattern is as follows:

• • 2tph Ashfield - Lidcombe (Bankstown Line)
  • 2tph Regents Park - Liverpool (Bankstown Line)

Clearways Project

The Clearways Project will see an improved turnback built at Homebush, which will enable Bankstown circle trains split, and Ashfield terminators extended to Homebush. The shortened Inner West trains on the Local lines will thus have better connections with other lines at Strathfield.