TheMain North Line (also known as theGreat Northern Railway) is a major railway inNew South Wales, Australia, running fromStrathfield inSydney toArmidale.
The 1980s saw the line closed progressively north of Armidale; passenger services north ofTamworth were cancelled in 1990 but were reintroduced as far as the former two years later.
TheSydney–Brisbane rail corridor now branches off the Great Northern Railway afterMaitland and follows theNorth Coast line.
The line starts as a branch off theMain Suburban line atStrathfield inSydney. The line heads north as a quadruple track electrified line to Rhodes, crossing theJohn Whitton Bridge over the Parramatta River as a double track line. At West Ryde the line again expands out to four tracks through to Epping. The line is then largely double track through the northern suburbs of Sydney, crossing theHawkesbury River Railway Bridge, before passing through theCentral Coast.
AtFassifern, a former branch line toToronto divided off in an eastwards direction until closed in 1990. The line continues north toBroadmeadow in the inner western suburbs ofNewcastle. North of Broadmeadow is the junction with theNewcastle branch line, where electrification of the main line ends. However, electrification continues along the branch line toNewcastle Interchange terminus at Wickham, with the branch line beyond Wickham to theformer Newcastle station having been closed and lifted from December 2014.
The line then swings westwards as four tracks; two main line and two coal roads traverse the outer suburbs of Newcastle toMaitland. The two coal roads run to theNewcastle coal lines, which serve a number ofcollieries along the route. Maitland is the junction of theNorth Coast line which continues toBrisbane and the Main North line. The line becomes double track immediately west of Maitland and heads through the Upper Hunter Valley townships ofBranxton,Singleton andMuswellbrook where the double track ends.
Muswellbrook is the junction point for the formercross country line toSandy Hollow andGulgong. The Main North continues northwards through theArdglen Tunnel toWerris Creek, where theMungindi Line branches off toMoree, and a former cross country branch continues toBinnaway and ultimatelyDubbo.
The line continues north, but sees limited traffic beyond Werris Creek. The line reaches the majorNew England towns ofTamworth andArmidale, the latter being the northernmost extent of service on the line. Until the mid-2000s freight traffic continued to the disused station atDumaresq which is home to a now-also-disused agricultural fertilizer depot. There is now wire across the corridor at several points between Armidale and Dumaresq, after which the line is closed. A block is placed across the tracks a short distance from Dumaresq, at the 590 kilometre mark. North ofGlen Innes the line, and particularly its bridges, have fallen into disrepair. In December 1991 the line was severed when theRoads & Traffic Authority built a deviation of theNew England Highway over the line at Bluff Rock south ofTenterfield.[1] AtWallangarra, the line metQueensland Railways'Southern railway line.
The Great Northern Railway was the original mainline betweenSydney andBrisbane. The first section of the Main North line opened in 1857 from the port ofNewcastle to East Maitland as theHunter River Railway Company's line.[2][3] At a public meeting for the company's establishment in 1853,William Charles Wentworth envisioned the line's extension toScone up north and Sydney down south.[4] The line was then extended toVictoria Street, Maitland in 1858. It was extended toSingleton in 1863,Muswellbrook in 1869, Scone in 1871 andMurrurundi in 1872.
The GNR was then extended beyond Scone toWerris Creek and WestTamworth in 1878,Armidale in 1883, and reached the Queensland border atWallangarra in 1888.[5] The North Coast line to Brisbane, via theNorth Coast was opened in stages between 1905 and 1930, but a ferry carried trains across theClarence River until theGrafton Bridge was completed in 1932. The Newcastle rail network remained independent of the main network radiating from Sydney until 1889, when the line between Sydney and Newcastle was completed with the opening of theHawkesbury River Railway Bridge. Thus Newcastle was connected by rail with Wallangarra before it was connected with Sydney, such was the difficulty and expense of reaching and bridging the Hawkesbury River.
The Sydney to Newcastle section,Homebush toWaratah, had difficult topography to overcome, including crossing theHawkesbury River, traversing the Mullet Creek bank and constructing theWoy Woy Tunnel. From the south, the line was opened between Homebush andHornsby in 1886, then extended toHawkesbury River in 1887. From the north, the line opened between Waratah andGosford in 1887.[5] Progress in the construction of the last section between Hawkesbury River and Gosford occurred when theWoy Woy Tunnel opened in 1887, then Mullet Creek to Gosford in 1888 and finally Hawkesbury River to Mullet Creek in 1889 when the originalHawkesbury River Railway Bridge was built.[6]
In 1892, the line was duplicated from Strathfield to Hornsby,[7] and electrified in 1926 as part of the Bradfield electrification scheme. The line was further electrified toGosford in January 1960,Wyong in April 1982[8] and Newcastle in June 1984.[9] Freight trains were hauled by electric locomotives until March 1998.[10]
Several lines branch from the Main North Line, including:
The line was serviced by the overnightNorthern Mail until it ceased in November 1988.[11] TheNorthern Tablelands Express provided a daylight service to Glen Innes, with some journeys extended to Tenterfield until truncated in October 1985 to Armidale[12] and in February 1990 to Tamworth.[13]
NSW TrainLink operates regional and intercity passenger services along the Main North line. A daily North Western train operates from Sydney to Werris Creek before dividing, one operating along the Main North line to Armidale, the other section operating along theNorth-West line toMoree.Central Coast & Newcastle Line intercity passenger services operate between Sydney and Newcastle. TheHunter Line operates between Newcastle, Maitland andScone, with a branch toDungog on theNorth Coast line.Sydney Trains operates suburban passenger services in the section betweenStrathfield andBerowra.
The section between Strathfield and Maitland forms part of the interstate line between Sydney and Brisbane and sees intermodal freight traffic carried between the two cities. The section of line in theHunter Valley sees intensive coal train working, with the section between Broadmeadow and Maitland one of the busiest freight lines in Australia.
The line was hampered by the rugged terrain and a change ofgauge atWallangarra for traffic to Queensland. The line was superseded as the principal route toBrisbane by the completion of theNorth Coast Line in 1930. Despite being bypassed, the line remained busy for many years afterwards, with the line instead becoming the major freight link to the wheat and wool regions of northern and north-west New South Wales.
In 1988, the newly elected Greiner State Government commissioned a report into the State Rail Authority byBooz Allen Hamilton. As a result, the line between Tenterfield and Wallangarra was closed. The last train to operate north of Tenterfield was anAustralian Railway Historical Society charter on 15 January 1988 hauled by diesel locomotive4487.[14] The last train to operate north of Glen Innes was hauled by steam locomotive3001 on 22 October 1989 after which the line was formally suspended from operations.[15][16]
Following theNorthern Tablelands Express being truncated in February 1990, the line north of Tamworth saw little use until theXplorer service was introduced to Armidale in October 1993. The line to Glen Innes was still open in July 1992 when diesel locomotive4499 operated a crew training service.[17]
There have been attempts to revive freight or tourist traffic to as far as Glen Innes, although these plans have not yet succeeded.
A section of the line betweenWaratah andMaitland isquadruple track, with one pair being used exclusively for coal trains within theHunter Valley coal trains and the other pair being used by passenger trains and general freight. The coal tracks from Port Waratah join the line on the eastern side of the other tracks at Scholey Street Junction and pass underneath the other tracks at Hanbury Dive just west of Maud Street, continuing to Maitland on the western side of the other tracks.
In November 1989, a fourth track was added betweenEastwood andWest Ryde.[18] In the mid-1990s a loop was constructed atCowan.
TheSandgate Flyover was constructed in 2006 to allow the two passenger/freight tracks to rise and pass over the coal tracks that branch off toKooragang Island in order to eliminate a capacity restriction caused by the long coal trains crossing the other tracks at grade. Because of the location of the overpass relative to the branch to Kooragang Island, a short section of the line has 6 parallel tracks. The bridge carrying Sandgate Road over the lines had to modified to allow for the additional lines.Sandgate station is flanked by a pair of coal tracks on each side.
As part of theRail Clearways Program, in August 2006 an additional platform was opened atBerowra,[19] and in March 2009 an additional platform and passing loop was opened atHornsby.[20]
In 2011, theNorthern Sydney Freight Corridor project commenced to improve access for freight trains. This has seen the completion of a loop atHexham in June 2012,[21] two loops betweenGosford andNarara in February 2015,[22] plus an underpass and loop betweenNorth Strathfield andRhodes in June 2015.[23] A third track betweenEpping andThornleigh was completed in June 2016.[24]
On 8 February 2024, a petition to reopen the Great Northern Railway north of Armidale to Wallangarra via Glen Innes and Tenterfield was presented to NSW Parliament by MP for Northern TablelandsAdam Marshall.Jenny Aitchison MP for Maitland and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads answered saying it required a business case.[25]
The Great Northern Railway received a Historic Engineering Marker fromEngineers Australia as part of itsEngineering Heritage Recognition Program.[26]
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