North Sydney railway station

North Sydney railway station is a suburban railway station located on the North Shore line, serving the Sydney suburb of North Sydney, the main Business District on Sydney's Lower North Shore. It is served by Sydney Trains' T1 North Shore Line and T9 Northern Line services.

History

North Sydney station opened on 20 March 1932 at the same time as the North Shore line over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.<ref>North Sydney Station NSWrail.net</ref> 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.<ref>"Peninsula Railway Dead-End" Railway Digest January 1986 page 15</ref>

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 1968 when the North Sydney Travelodge was built, the air rights over the station have progressively been redeveloped.<ref>"20 Years Ago" Railway Digest April 1988 page 150</ref> In December 1972, the awning over platforms 3 and 4 was demolished.<ref>"20 Years Ago" Railway Digest December 1992 page 282</ref> The station became totally enclosed with the opening of Zurich Insurance House in 1984.<ref>"North Sydney Underground" Railway Digest February 1985 page 43</ref>

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.<ref>Upgrade project profile Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation</ref>

Services

Platforms

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.<ref>"North Sydney" Railway Digest November 1992 page 434</ref><ref>"Milsons Point – Waverton" Railway Digest November 1993 page 495</ref> The tunnel roads serving platforms 2 and 3 both have a 10 km/h speed limit and are occasionally used by passenger services. Template:TFNSW platforms

Transport links

CDC NSW operates two bus routes via North Sydney Station, under contract to Transport for NSW:Template:Cn

• 612X: to Castle Hill via St Leonards, Epping Rd, Gore Hill Technology Park and M2
• 622: to Dural Bus Depot via St Leonards, North Sydney, Lane Cove, North Ryde, M2, West Pennant Hills, Cherrybrook

Gallery

• 
  View of the entrances to the tunnels at the Template:Rwsa end of the station, photographed in 1931
• 
  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

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline
• North Sydney station details Transport for New South Wales
• North Sydney Station Public Transport Map Transport for NSW
• Upgrade works Flickr gallery