Most of the system is electrified with power supplied by means of overhead wire; however, some isolated sections outside the Sydney metropolitan area are still operated by diesel railcars.
CityRail is owned by the New South Wales State Government and is a "product group'' of the State Rail Authority of New South Wales.
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2 CityRail's Network 3 CityRail trains 4 History of CityRail 5 Electrification 6 External sites |
CityRail is a very unusual passenger railway system, in the sense that it 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 intercity rail system.
This is in contrast to railway systems in many other large cities around the world. For instance, a person living in Oakville thirty kilometres west of Toronto, Canada who works in downtown Toronto approximately two kilometres from Toronto's Union Station will need to catch a commuter rail train service operated by GO Transit to Union Station, where he/she will have to change to a subway train service operated by the Toronto Transit Commission to complete his/her journey to work. This commuter will have to buy two different tickets from two different railway operators.
Meanwhile, a person who lives in Blacktown thirty kilometres west of Sydney and works in the city centre two kilometres from Central Station can catch a CityRail suburban service from his/her local station. However, the train does not terminate at Central Station; the train then proceeds onward into the underground portions of the network which criss-cross Sydney's downtown area without the need to change trains or buy tickets from two or more different railway organisations.
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 Newcastle, as far west as Lithgow, as far south-west as Goulburn and as far south as Bomaderry-Nowra.
The hub of the CityRail system is the City Circle, a large balloon loop that circulates around downtown Sydney. Trains on the East Hills (commonly colored green) and Bankstown (purple) lines from the south-western suburbs 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 the Green or Purple lines. The five stations on the City Circle, in clockwise direction, are:
The Illawarra (blue) line trains from the southern suburbs delves 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 underground Eastern Suburbs Railway.
CityRail operate, at time of writing, three distinct types of trains for metropolitan services
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 country town. The railway formed the basis of the "New South Wales Government Railways" and was owned by the Government from the outset. Passenger services were operated from the beginning.
The State's railways system quickly expanded from the beginning with lines radiating from Sydney and Newcastle into the interior of the State, 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.
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, delving 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 with two downtown stations - Town Hall and Wynyard.
World War Two interrupted programs for further electrification, however, the following extensive electric network was in place in 1948 spanning the suburban area:
Another underground line, the Chatswood-Epping Link in the northern suburbs, is currently under construction, and is due to open around 2007.CityRail: A Hybrid System
CityRail's Network
Trains on the North Shore (yellow) and Northern (red) lines 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 suburbs on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour.CityRail trains
On the intercity services, different style trains may operate
History of CityRail
Electrification
The City Circle was completed in 1957 with the construction of the railway between Wynyard and St. James via Circular Quay completing the loop beneath downtown. The Eastern Suburbs Railway was completed as far as Bondi Junction in 1979, around 100 years after it was first planned. Recent additions to the network include the extension of the East Hills line to Glenfield in the south-western suburbs opened in 1987, a short branch to Olympic Park completed in 1999 in time for the 2000 Olympic Games and a new underground line, the Airport Line, opened in 2000.