North Sydney railway station

North Sydney
Station front in October 2011
Location	Blue Street, North Sydney
Coordinates	33°30′10″S 151°07′21″E / 33.5028°S 151.1226°E / -33.5028; 151.1226Coordinates: 33°30′10″S 151°07′21″E / 33.5028°S 151.1226°E / -33.5028; 151.1226
Owned by	RailCorp
Operated by	Sydney Trains
Line(s)	North Shore
Distance	5.13 kilometres from Central
Platforms	4 (2 island)
Tracks	4
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Built over
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Status	Staffed
Station code	NSY
Website	Sydney Trains
History
Opened	20 March 1932
Electrified	Yes
Services
Preceding station   Sydney Trains   Following station Milsons Point towards Epping or Emu Plains or Richmond T1 North Shore, Northern & Western Line Waverton towards Hornsby or Berowra Preceding station   NSW TrainLink   Following station Waverton towards Wyong Central Coast services via North Shore (peak hours only) Milsons Point towards Central

North Sydney railway station is located on the North Shore line, serving the Sydney suburb of North Sydney. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 North Shore line services. From September 2005 to May 2006 it was the major terminus of the Hornsby via Strathfield line. From 2013 it is the major terminus for Emu Plains services.

History

The entrances to the tunnels at the Waverton end

The two pairs of platforms on either side of the roadway at Milsons Point were intended to join up at North Sydney

Concourse

Platforms 1 & 2

North Sydney station opened on 20 March 1932 at the same time as the North Shore line over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.^[1] Prior to the bridge's opening, North Shore line trains had diverged from the current line at Waverton to the original Milsons Point station at Lavender Bay.

The station was built in a rock cutting with a street level overhead concourse above the platforms. The station has four platforms which correspond with the four railway tracks that were designed to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At the Waverton end of the station there are four tunnels which have been cut into the rock. Unused tunnel stubs of 260 metres for proposed lines to Newport and Northbridge were cut at the same time with Chief Design Engineer John Bradfield calculating that without these, later construction of these lines would interfere with the North Shore line.^[2]

From 1932 until 1958, two of the rail tracks designed for the bridge were used by trams, the latter being diverted onto Blue Street just before they would have entered North Sydney Station. After 1958 the tram tracks were removed from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and replaced by the Cahill Expressway.

Beginning in the 1968 when the North Sydney Travelodge was built, the air rights over the station have progressively been redeveloped.^[3] In December 1972, the awning over platforms 3 and 4 was demolished.^[4] The station became totally enclosed with the opening of Zurich Insurance House in 1984.^[5]

Upgrade

Between April 2006 and December 2008, the station was upgraded to handle extra traffic expected with the opening of the Epping to Chatswood line in 2009. The work included an expanded concourse and the installation of escalators and lifts.^[6]

Platforms and services

The four platforms at North Sydney can have different usages, but the outer platforms are generally the only ones used in off-peak; the middle platforms generally serve terminating trains arriving from the city. Because the four platforms at North Sydney serve a double track railway to the north and south of the station, it has significant capacity for terminating traffic.

The line north through the tunnel from Platform 3 was not laid until 1992 and commissioned in August 1993.^[7][8] The tunnel roads serving platforms 2 and 3 both have a 10 km/h speed limit and are occasionally used by passenger services.

References

External links

• Media related to North Sydney railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• North Sydney station details Sydney Trains
• Upgrade works Flickr gallery