Southern Highlands Line
Endeavour railcar at Moss Vale in December 2008 | |
Overview | |
---|---|
Service type | Intercity rail |
Locale | Macarthur, Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands, New South Wales |
First service | 19 May 1869 |
Current operator(s) | NSW TrainLink |
Route | |
Start | Campbelltown, Central |
Stops | 22 |
End | Goulburn |
Distance travelled | 224 km (139 mi) |
Line used | Main South |
Technical | |
Rolling stock | Endeavour railcar, R Set |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
Track owner(s) | RailCorp |
The Southern Highlands Line is a NSW TrainLink passenger train service on the Main South line that serves the Macarthur, Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands regions of New South Wales.
History
The Main South line opened in stages to Picton in 1863, Moss Vale in 1867 and Goulburn in 1869.[1]
In 1919, a new section of line opened between Picton and Mittagong, with the original section becoming the Picton-Mittagong loop line.[2] Originally a single track line, it was later doubled with the exception of the Picton-Mittagong loop line.
Services
Most services operate between Campbelltown and Moss Vale with a limited number extending to Sydney Central and Goulburn.[3] All services are operated by Endeavour railcars.
Rail replacement bus services operate between Picton and Bowral paralleling the Picton-Mittagong loop line and Bundanoon and Wollongong paralleling the Moss Vale-Unanderra line. A daytime bus service also operates between Moss Vale and Goulburn.[3] Some stations are also served by NSW TrainLink XPT and Xplorer services from Sydney to Canberra, Griffith and Melbourne.[4]
Up until the mid-1990s, most services on the line operated through to Sydney Central. Named trains that operated on the line included the Goulburn Day Train and Southern Highlands Express. In the late 1980s, air-conditioned HUB/RUB carriages were introduced. These would later be joined by Budd and Tulloch carriages and DEB railcars.[5]
In 1994, all were replaced by Endeavour railcars.[6] Most services were altered to operate only as far north as Campbelltown connecting with CityRail electric services to Sydney.
As of 2014-15, the Southern Highlands Line experiences significantly worse peak hour on-time running performance than other suburban and intercity lines.[7]
Stations
Name | Code [8] |
Distance from Central |
Railway | Suburbs serviced | Connecting Services | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central - Campbelltown (Peak hour services) | ||||||
Central | SYD | 0.0 km | Main Suburban | Sydney, Strawberry Hills, Ultimo, Surry Hills |
||
Glenfield | GFD | 41.9 km | Main South | Glenfield | ■ Airport, Inner West & South Line ■ Cumberland Line ■ South West Rail Link | |
Campbelltown - Goulburn | ||||||
Campbelltown | CAM | 54.7 km | Main South | Campbelltown | ■ Airport, Inner West & South Line ■ Cumberland Line ■ Southern Region | |
Macarthur | MCU | 56.5 km | Ambarvale, Blair Athol, Glen Alpine | ■ Airport, Inner West & South Line | ||
Menangle Park | MEK | 62.8 km | Menangle Park, Gilead | |||
Menangle | MGE | 65.3 km | Menangle | |||
Douglas Park | DPK | 73.3 km | Douglas Park, Wilton | |||
Picton | PIC | 85.2 km | Picton, Maldon | Picton-Bowral loop line bus | ||
Tahmoor | TAH | 94.4 km | Tahmoor, Couridjah, Buxton, Thirlmere | |||
Bargo | BZG | 102.8 km | Bargo, Yanderra and Pheasants Nest | |||
Yerrinbool | YEB | 116.3 km | Yerrinbool, Colo Vale, Hill Top, Alpine | |||
Mittagong | MIT | 131.5 km | Mittagong, Braemar, Balaclava, Willow Vale, Welby, Aylmerton |
Picton-Mittagong loop line bus ■ Southern Region | ||
Bowral | BWL | 136.3 km | Bowral, Berrima, East Bowral | Picton-Mittagong loop line bus ■ Bundanoon - Wollongong Coach ■ Southern Region | ||
Burradoo | BUO | 138.8 km | Burradoo | |||
Moss Vale | MSV | 145.7 km | Moss Vale, Bong Bong, Robertson, Sutton Forest, Burrawang |
■ Bundanoon - Wollongong Coach ■ Southern Region | ||
Exeter | EXT | 155.8 km | Exeter | ■ Bundanoon - Wollongong Coach | ||
Bundanoon | BUN | 162.2 km | Bundanoon | ■ Bundanoon - Wollongong Coach ■ Southern Region | ||
Penrose | PRS | 171.4 km | Penrose | |||
Wingello | WNE | 177.1 km | Wingello | |||
Tallong | TJG | 185.3 km | Tallong | |||
Marulan | MRX | 192.9 km | Marulan | |||
Goulburn | GUL | 224.0 km | Goulburn | ■ Southern Region |
Stopping patterns
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References
- ↑ Main South Line NSWrail.net
- ↑ Bayley, William A (197x). Picton-Mittagong Loop Line Railway. Bulli: Austrail Publications. ISBN 0-909597-14-6.
- 1 2 "Southern Highlands line timetable" (PDF). NSW Trainlink. 18 April 2015.
- ↑ "Southern timetable" (PDF). NSW Trainlink. 20 October 2013 [Updated 30 June 2014].
- ↑ "Southern Passengers" Railway Digest January 1989 page 21
- ↑ "New Timetable Sees Demise of Loco-Hauled Services" Railway Digest July 1994
- ↑ . Audit Office of New South Wales http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/latest-reports/financial/volume-six-2015-transport/service-delivery/5-service-delivery. Retrieved 26 November 2015. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ↑ Bozier, Rolfe. "New South Wales Railways: NSW Station Codes". Archived from the original on 13 June 2002. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
Further reading
- "Centenary of the Opening of the Southern Line to Picton", Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin July 1963
- "Centenary of the Opening of the Southern Line to Mittagong", Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin March 1967
- "Centenary of the Opening of the Southern Line to Goulburn", Singleton, C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin May 1969
- Southern Highlands Express Peter Attenborough, Eveleigh Press 2011 ISBN 978 1 87 656854 2
External links
- NSW TrainLink official website