Bankstown Line

This article is about the Sydney Trains service that operates on the line. For the physical railway line, see Bankstown railway line. For the yet-to-commence T6 service between Lidcombe and Bankstown, see Lidcombe & Bankstown Line.

Bankstown Line
A B set at Wiley Park
Overview
Owner	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Locale	Sydney, New South Wales
Termini	Central Liverpool, Lidcombe
Stations	33
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	Sydney Trains
Depot(s)	Flemington
Rolling stock	K, M, A and B sets
History
Opened	1 February 1895 (1895-02-01)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Sydney Trains services Metro North West North Shore & Western Inner West & Leppington Bankstown Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Cumberland Lidcombe & Bankstown Olympic Park Airport & South Northern v t e

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.

Due to the conversion of the Bankstown-to-Sydenham line to a Sydney Metro line, in 2024 the part of the line between Liverpool and Lidcombe (which runs on the Main South Line) will be rebranded to form part of the Liverpool & Inner West Line, retaining the T3 numbering. The part of the line between Bankstown and Lidcombe will operate as a short shuttle line, to be known as the Lidcombe & Bankstown Line , numbered T6. ^[1]

v t e T3 route diagram
Legend
Km 3.0 Circular Quay ↓ 4.4 St James ↑ 2.1 Wynyard ↓ 5.0 Museum ↑ 1.2 Town Hall 0.0 Central Airport line 1.3 Redfern Main Suburban line 2.9 Erskineville 3.8 St Peters 5.3 Sydenham Metropolitan Goods line Illawarra line 6.6 Marrickville 7.9 Dulwich Hill 8.8 Hurlstone Park Canterbury Road 10.2 Canterbury Cooks River 11.7 Campsie Metropolitan Goods line 13.3 Belmore 14.5 Lakemba King Georges Road 15.4 Wiley Park 16.5 Punchbowl Stacey Street 18.7 Bankstown 18.9 Bankstown Turnback (Loop Line) Hume Highway 20.2 Yagoona 22.1 Birrong Metropolitan Goods line Main Suburban line 16.6 Lidcombe 19.9 Regents Park 18.4 Berala Main Suburban line 21.2 Sefton 22.3 Chester Hill 23.7 Leightonfield 24.5 Villawood 25.9 Carramar Prospect Creek Old Main South line 28.4 Cabramatta Hume Highway 34.2 Warwick Farm 35.7 Liverpool Newbridge Road Main South line

History

Railway line history

The Bankstown railway line opened between Sydenham on the Illawarra railway line and Belmore in 1895. ^[2] This was the second solely suburban line to open in Sydney, following the North Shore railway line in 1890–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 Line 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. ^[3] The Punchbowl Maintenance Depot closed in 1994.

In January 2006 a four-year project to upgrade the line was completed.^{[ citation needed ]} 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. Until the early 2000s, a number of Bankstown trains continued via the Western Line to Blacktown via Granville and Parramatta.

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. A sextuplication project between Erskineville and Sydenham was also proposed as part of the Rail Clearways Program, but was cancelled in 2011. It was intended to separate Bankstown line services from those operating towards East Hills. The 2013 timetable sees most East Hills line trains using the Airport line to access the city.

The line was depicted in a brown colour in the early 1990s ^[4] before being changed to a purple colour around 2000, ^[5] before it became the current orange colour.

Future projects

Main articles: Sydney Metro City & Southwest and Metro North West & Bankstown Line

Sydney Metro City & Southwest is a plan to convert the Sydenham to Bankstown section of the line to use single deck metro trains. A new tunnel will be constructed between Sydenham and Chatswood, for access to the city. The stations of St Peters, Erskineville and the stations west of Bankstown towards Lidcombe / Liverpool will not be served by the metro. ^[6] The NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into the Sydenham-Bankstown line conversion recommended that the direct train to City via Lidcombe be restored for commuters west of Bankstown. ^[7] The NSW Government rejected most recommendations from this report. ^[8]

In December 2020, Transport for NSW announced it was considering when the Bankstown Line closes for conversion to metro in 2024, the Liverpool to city service via Regents Park and Lidcombe will be reinstated and a shuttle branch service will run between Lidcombe and Bankstown. ^[9] Regents Park will be the main interchange point between both lines as the direct train between Bankstown and Liverpool will be withdrawn.

In November 2022, Transport for NSW released plans to consider closing Birrong, Yagoona, and other stations in the West of Bankstown after the opening of Sydney Metro City & Southwest. Buses would replace trains in the West of Bankstown towards Lidcombe and Liverpool, however this no longer appears part of revised planning for opening of Sydney Metro City & Southwest. ^[10]

In April 2023, the NSW Government announced an independent review into the Sydney Metro project. ^[11]

In August 2023, the NSW Government in response to the recommendation of the Sydney Metro Review Interim Report, announced the continuation of the Sydney Metro Southwest project with the conversion of the Sydenham to Bankstown line including a 12 month temporary closure from mid-2024 onwards. ^[12] The proposal will see Bankstown line services replaced with Southwest Link bus replacement services with the section between Lidcombe and Bankstown to be re-numbered as the T6 service (formerly used by the Carlingford Line). ^[13]

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. However both inbound and outbound trains can also travel in the counterclockwise direction around the City Circle, as of the November 2017 timetable. After Central, trains enter the Illawara railway line, using the local (western pair) tracks, stopping at St Peters and Erskineville stations. Just south of Sydenham, all trains take the turnout onto the Bankstown railway line. At Sefton Park Junction (west of Birrong), trains can turn onto both directions of the Main Southern railway line, running to Liverpool or Lidcombe.

The line serves two major centres in Western Sydney, namely Bankstown and Liverpool.

T3 interactive map

T3 stations

Name	Distance from Central [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]	Opened [14] [15] [16] [17]	Railway line	Serving suburbs	Other lines
Town Hall – Birrong
Town Hall	1.2 km	1932	City Circle	Sydney, Darling Harbour	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9
Wynyard	2.1 km	1932		Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point	T1 T2 T8 T9
Circular Quay	3.0 km	1956		Circular Quay, Sydney The Rocks, Millers Point	T2 T8
St James	4.3 km (dist via Town Hall)	1926		Sydney
Museum	5 km (dist via Town Hall)	1926		Sydney
Central	0 km	1855		Central, Strawberry Hills Ultimo, Surrey Hills	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9
Redfern	1.3 km	1878	Illawarra	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington The University of Sydney	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9 (T8 peak hours only)
Erskineville	2.9 km	1884		Erskineville, Macdonaldtown, Newtown	none
St Peters	3.8 km	1884		St Peters, Alexandria, Erskineville, Newtown	T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Sydenham	5.3 km	1884		Sydenham, Marrickville, St Peters	T4 T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Marrickville	6.6 km	1895	Bankstown	Marrickville, Marrickville South	none
Dulwich Hill	7.9 km	1895		Dulwich Hill, Marrickville, Hurlstone Park
Hurlstone Park	8.8 km	1895		Hurlstone Park, Canterbury
Canterbury	10.2 km	1895		Canterbury
Campsie	11.7 km	1895		Campsie
Belmore	13.3 km	1895		Belmore
Lakemba	14.5 km	1909		Lakemba
Wiley Park	15.4 km	1938		Wiley Park, Lakemba, Punchbowl
Punchbowl	16.5 km	1909		Punchbowl
Bankstown	18.7 km	1909		Bankstown
Yagoona	20.6 km	1928		Yagoona
Birrong	22.1 km	1928		Birrong
Birrong – Lidcombe
Regents Park	19.9 km	1912	Main South	Regents Park	none
Berala	18.4 km	1912		Berala
Lidcombe	16.6 km	1858		Lidcombe	T1 T2 T7
Birrong – Liverpool
Sefton	21.2 km	1924	Main South	Sefton	none
Chester Hill	22.3 km	1924		Chester Hill
Leightonfield	23.7 km	1942		Villawood
Villawood	24.5 km	1924		Villawood
Carramar	25.9 km	1924		Carramar
Cabramatta	28.4 km	1870		Cabramatta	T2 T5
Warwick Farm	34.2 km	1889		Warwick Farm
Liverpool	35.7 km	1856		Liverpool

Patronage

The following table shows the patronage of Sydney Trains network for the year ending 30 June 2022.

2021–22 Sydney Trains patronage by line ^{[n.b. 1] [19]}

T1	41,980,000
T2	23,077,000
T3	11,198,000
T4	27,775,000
T5	3,503,000
T7	605,000
T8	16,879,000
T9	10,415,000

1. Figures based on Opal tap on and tap off data.

References

1. Southwest Link Archived 30 April 2024 at the Wayback Machine - Transport for NSW
2. "NSW Railway Passenger Services 1880-1905". Australian Railway History, April 2005. ARHS NSW Division. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
3. Brady, I. Sydney Electric Trains From 1926 to 1960. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Vol 52, no 762. April 2001.
4. NSWrail map 1992
5. Sydney Suburban Network map, 2000
6. Sydney Metro. "Sydenham to Bankstown". Sydney Metro City & Southwest. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
7. "Sydenham-Bankstown Line conversion". parliament.nsw.gov.au. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
8. NSW Government response Inquiry into the Sydenham-Bankstown line conversion Archived 24 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine Andrew Constance, Minister for Roads & Transport 7 October 2020
9. "Rail options for west of Bankstown station in 2024 now confirmed". Transport for NSW. 8 December 2020. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
10. Vella, Joanne (6 September 2023). "Sydney Metro proposed plan to shut nine train stations permanently after Bankstown-Sydenham Metro lines opens". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
11. "Sydney Metro Review announced". Transport for NSW. 13 April 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
12. Parkes-Hupton, Heath (31 July 2023). "NSW government commits to converting south-west Sydney rail line to metro". ABC News. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
13. "Southwest Link for T3 passengers during difficult 12-month Metro conversion". NSW Government. 30 April 2024. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
14. "NSW Rail.net Bankstown line". Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
15. "NSW Rail.net South Coast line". Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
16. "NSW Rail.net City Circle". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
17. "NSW Rail.net Lidcombe-Cabramatta line". Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
18. "Driver Route Knowledge Diagrams - City Circle" (PDF). Railsafe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
19. "Train Patronage – Monthly Figures". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 20 August 2022.

External links

• "T3: Bankstown line timetable". Transport for NSW.
• CityRail News and Media - Completion of the Bankstown line upgrade
• CityRail News and Media - History of the Bankstown line