East Hills railway line, Sydney

The East Hills railway line is a commuter railway line serving the southern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Opened to East Hills in 1931 and extended to connect to the main south line in 1987, the line is today operated by CityRail as part of the Airport & East Hills line.

Alignment

The East Hills line branches from the Illawarra line at Wolli Creek Junction, between Tempe and Arncliffe railway stations. From Wolli Creek, the line heads west towards East Hills, where the alignment is within 2 km of the since-constructed M5 South Western Motorway. It then turns south-west through the new suburbs of Voyager Point and Wattle Grove to meet the Main South line at Glenfield Junction. The line is four tracks between Wolli Creek junction and just past Beverly Hills Station, then two tracks to Glenfield junction. The bridge over the Georges River at East Hills, opened in 1987, is the only significant engineering structure on the line.

History

Proposals for a line to East Hills were first raised after World War 1 as an extension of the existing line at Bankstown. In 1923, the Railway Department put forward a proposal for a railway from Tempe to Salt Pan Creek to serve the growing town of Dumbleton (later known as Beverly Hills). Residents west of Salt Pan Creek petitioned the government to extend the line to East Hills, and the bill for construction of the line passed both Houses of the state Parliament in late 1924. The initial line was to be double track between Tempe and Kingsgrove and single track beyond, although earthworks were to allow future easy duplication of the entire route. Electrification was also to end at Kingsgrove. Construction began in 1927, and most of the earthworks were completed in by 1930. [Oakes, J. "Salt Pan via Dumbleton. The Story of the East Hills Line". Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, September 2001, Vol 52, no 767.] The first section to Kingsgrove opened on 21 September, 1931 as an electrified double track line from Wolli Creek Junction on the Illawarra line to Kingsgrove.The single track non-electrified section to East Hills opened in December 1931. Points to reverse trains were provided at Kingsgrove, and a passing loop was provided at Hearne Bay. Diesel shuttle service was provided by railmotors between Kingsgrove and East Hills, connecting with electric services at the former station. Some electric services operated through to St James station (the City Circle was not complete at that time), however most terminated at Tempe, connecting with Illawarra line services to and from the city. Complete through service commenced in 1937. The single line between Kingsgrove and East Hills was opened for electric services on 17 December, 1939. [Mok, Danny " [http://web.archive.org/web/20030215154843/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~fordghia/transport/EastHill.html "FordGhia's Railway & Transport in Australia Page: East Hills Line Information & Photos"] ", Accessed 3 February, 2003.]

The line was duplicated between Kingsgrove and Riverwood in 1948, with points for terminating trains provided at both stations, and a passing loop at Revesby was opened in 1956. Services generally ran all stations from East Hills via Tempe and Sydenham, to the City Circle. Occasional services terminated at Riverwood, Kingsgrove & Padstow. Most trains stopped at Erskineville and St. Peters, now only served by the Bankstown line.

In 1987, the line was duplicated through to East Hills and extended to Glenfield to connect with the Main South Line, allowing through services to and from Campbelltown. A new station was provided at Holsworthy, and East Hills station was rebuilt with the addition of a third platform. When services commenced on 21 December, 1987,Bozier, Rolfe, " [http://www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW:east_hills "New South Wales Railways: East Hills Line: History"] ", Accessed 30 December, 2006.] there were only limited services from Campbelltown via East Hills during peak hours only; however, in 1988 an all day half hourly service was provided. Local (all stations) services generally ran every 15 minutes from East Hills. [" [http://www.geocities.com/nswrail/PreCityrail.htm "NSW Rail Historical Timetables: Pre CityRail"] ", Accessed 30 December, 2006.]

In conjunction with the construction of the Airport Line line, the section of the East Hills Line between Wolli Creek Junction and Kingsgrove was quadruplified. Once this was opened, the running patterns of the trains on the lines changed. The "flying junctions" interchange near Central Station was altered to give the Airport Line its own platforms (21 & 23) at Central. Local (all stations) trains generally were timetabled to run from East Hills via the airport, peak hour express trains from Campbelltown run along the original route via Sydenham, taking the express tracks between Kingsgrove and Wolli Creek Junction.

The line as a whole suffered a substantial loss in patronage when the M5 East Tunnel opened in 2002. The tunnel joined the Eastern Distributor and M5 South Western Motorway, shortening road travel times between the city and the south west. The line was estimated to have lost 384,450 commuters over 12 months after the tunnel opened. [Kerr, Joseph, [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/01/1048962755880.html "Motorway takes toll on rail trips"] , "Sydney Morning Herald", April 2, 2003. Accessed 30 December, 2006.] Since that time, however, the line appears to have gained commuters again, with a reported 3.5% increase in patronage up to early 2006. [Pearlman, Jonothan, [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/passengers-crowd-onto-fewer-trains/2006/03/02/1141191796935.html "Passengers crowd onto fewer trains"] , "Sydney Morning Herald", March 3, 2006. Accessed 30 December, 2006.]

An additional platform and turnback track is currently under construction at Revesby railway station as part of the Rail Clearways Programme. When complete in 2008, it is anticipated that many local services will start from and stop at this station. [Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, "Revesby Turnback: Project Profile", Accessed 30 December 2006.]

Future

The New South Wales Government proposes to expand the section between Kingsgrove and Revesby from two to four tracks under its Rail Clearways Programme. This will separate services operating between the Campbelltown area and the city from local services. [Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, "Kingsgrove to Revesby Quadruplication: Project Profile", Accessed 30 December 2006.] An environmental impact statement has been prepared and was placed on display for public comment in November 2007.

References

External links

* [http://www.railpage.org.au/neety/trains/EH_names.html Neety's Train Page: Names and Photos of the East Hills Line] - photos and explanations of station names on the line.
* [http://www.131500.info/ Transport InfoLine] - timetable and fare information
* [http://www.cityrail.info/ www.cityrail.info] - CityRail website