Newcastle and Central Coast railway line

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Newcastle & Central Coast line
Mode	Regional rail line Coach service
Owner	CityRail
Operator(s)	CityRail
Connects	Central Woy Woy Gosford Wyong Fassifern Toronto (by coach) Hamilton Newcastle
Length	168 km
Stations	31
Fleet	V, G, K and H (Oscar) sets
Depot(s)	Flemington Hornsby
Line colour	Red/Grey
Key dates
1887	Opened

The Newcastle and Central Coast Line is an intercity railway line of Sydney's CityRail network. It runs from Sydney's Central Station via the Central Coast along an inland route, and ends in the Central Business District of Newcastle. It is coloured red on a grey background on CityRail maps and other promotional material.

Description of route

The route follows the Main West and Main South railway line routes until Strathfield, where it diverts north and follows the route of the Main North line until Broadmeadow, before diverting east along the route of the Newcastle branch line. The line is electrified at 1500V DC throughout, and is primarily double track, although there are passing loops at Hawkesbury River, Gosford, Wyong, Awaba, and Sulphide Junction (between Cockle Creek and Cardiff). Terminating of trains is available at Gosford, Wyong, and Morisset stations.

Prior to electrification of the route, steam hauled passenger trains were varied and interesting.^[1]

There are two stations planned on the line - a new station for Warnervale town centre (Woongarrah) at North Warnervale and a Glendale station between Cockle Creek and Cardiff. Both of these are in the planning stage.

This line is currently receiving ongoing track work between Gosford and Newcastle. This is part of the Track Reconstruction Strategy which commenced in 2003. Track reconstruction work includes replacing timber sleepers with concrete, new rails, ballast cleaning, reconditioning, drainage, resurfacing track, overhead wiring adjustments, track adjustments, signal restoration works and rail corridor clean-up and presentation. The track work is expected to be completed in 2009/10. During track work times, buses replace most trains when tracks are not ready.

The line is notable for the detailed Street art murals that adorn areas near most stations between Hornsby and Newcastle, incorporating imagery and names related to the appropriate station. The route also takes in a meandering but picturesque section along the Hawkesbury River, Brisbane Water and Lake Macquarie.

Stations

This table does not include the services which run via the ■North Shore Line and extend to Gosford and Wyong.

Name of Station	Code	MyMulti Zone	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station							Connections
Newcastle and Central Coast Line
Central	SYD	One	Central, Strawberry Hills, Ultimo, Surry Hills								■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line ■Inner West Line   ■Northern Line ■Western Line   ■North Shore Line ■South Coast Line ■Blue Mountains Line ■Southern Highlands Line (peak hours only)
Redfern (peak hours only)	RDF	One	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington The University of Sydney								■Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line ■Bankstown Line   ■South Line ■Airport & East Hills Line* ■Western Line   ■Inner West Line ■Northern Line ■South Coast Line* ■Blue Mountains Line* *peak hours only
Strathfield	SFD	Two	Strathfield, Burwood								■Western Line   ■South Line ■Inner West Line   ■Northern Line ■Blue Mountains Line
West Ryde (peak hours only)	WRD	Two	West Ryde								■Northern Line
Eastwood	EAW	Two	Eastwood, Marsfield								■Northern Line
Epping	EPG	Two	Epping, North Epping								■Northern Line
Hornsby	HBY	Two	Hornsby, Waitara								■North Shore Line   ■Northern Line
Asquith (limited service only)	ASQ	Three	Asquith
Berowra	BEW	Three	Berowra, Berowra Heights								■North Shore Line
Cowan	CWN	Three	Cowan
Hawkesbury River	HKR	Three	Brooklyn
Wondabyne	WDB	Three	Wondabyne
Woy Woy	WOY	Three	Woy Woy								■North Shore Line(peak hours only)
Koolewong	KWG	Three	Koolewong
Tascott	TSC	Three	Tascott
Point Clare	PCL	Three	Point Clare
Gosford	GOS	Three	Gosford								■North Shore Line(peak hours only)
Narara	NRR	Three	Narara
Niagara Park	NIA	Three	Niagara Park
Lisarow	LRW	Three	Lisarow
Ourimbah	OUR	Three	Ourimbah
Tuggerah	TGG	Three	Tuggerah, Mardi, Chittaway Point, Kangy Angy
Wyong	WYG	Three	Wyong, Wattanobi								■North Shore Line(peak hours only)
Warnervale	WNV	Three	Warnervale, Woongarrah, Hamlyn Terrace
North Warnervale (under planning)	-	Three	Woongarrah	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Wyee	WYE	Three	Wyee
Morisset	MOI	Three	Morisset
Dora Creek	DRK	Three	Dora Creek, Myuna Bay, Eraring
Awaba	AWB	Three & Green	Awaba
Fassifern	FSN	Three & Green	Fassifern, Blackalls Park, Fennell Bay								■Fassifern to Toronto Bus Service
Booragul	BGL	Three & Green	Booragul, Marmong Point
Teralba	TRB	Three & Green	Teralba
Cockle Creek	CKK	Three & Green	Cockle Creek
Glendale (under planning)	-	Three & Green	Glendale, Cardiff	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Cardiff	CDF	Three & Green	Cardiff, Cardiff Heights, Glendale
Kotara	KRZ	Three & Green	Kotara, Kotara South
Adamstown	ADT	Three & Green	Adamstown, New Lambton
Broadmeadow	BMD	Three & Green	Broadmeadow
Hamilton	HMN	Three & Green	Hamilton, Islington								■Hunter Line
Wickham	WKH	Three & Green	Wickham, Newcastle West
Civic	CVI	Three & Green	Newcastle, Honeysuckle, Cooks Hill
Newcastle	NTL	Three & Green	Newcastle, Newcastle East, The Hill								■Hunter Line

Despite the introduction of the MyMulti ticket on 18 April 2010, a Green Newcastle TravelPass continues to be available, valid for travel on this line between Newcastle and Awaba (including the Fassifern to Toronto "Train Bus" service). All stations served by the Newcastle TravelPass are also accessible with a MyMulti 3 ticket.

Stopping Patterns

Cowan railway station

A service to Newcastle waiting to depart from Central.

• Pattern 1: Newcastle, all to Berowra, Hornsby, Epping, Eastwood, Strathfield, Central and vice-versa (early morning and late night services; one morning peak hour service to Central; one evening peak service to Newcastle). Some trains stop all stations from Newcastle to Honrsby, except for Wondabyne, then Epping, Strathfield, Central *
• Pattern 2: Newcastle, Civic, Hamilton, Broadmeadow, Cardiff, Fassifern, Morisset, all to Tuggerah, Gosford, Woy Woy, Hornsby, Epping, Eastwood, Strathfield, Central and vice-versa (daytime off-peak and peak hours) †
• Pattern 3: Wyong, all to Berowra, Hornsby, Epping, Eastwood, Strathfield, Redfern, Central and vice-versa (daytime off-peak and peak hours) ¹
• Pattern 4: Newcastle, all to Morisset and vice-versa (daytime off-peak and evening peak hour)
• Pattern 5: Newcastle, all to Gosford, Woy Woy, Hornsby, Epping, Eastwood, Strathfield, Central and vice-versa (peak hours only)
• Pattern 6: Gosford, all to Berowra, Hornsby, Epping, Eastwood, Strathfield, Central and vice-versa (late afternoon off-peak and early evening peak hour) ²
• Pattern 7: The former "Newcastle Flyer" service: Newcastle, Hamilton, Broadmeadow, Cardiff, Fassifern, Morisset, Gosford, Hornsby, Strathfield, Central and vice-versa (One peak hour morning service to Central; one peak hour evening service to Newcastle) ³

Note: means that not all services on this pattern service this station: * Some early morning services also stop at Asquith. The morning peak hour service to Central also stops at West Ryde. The evening peak hour service to Newcastle also stops at Redfern. † Some services also stop at Ourimbah, Lisarow, Niagara Park and Narara. (1 afternoon Newcastle bound train also stops at Berowra and 1 morning Newcastle bound train stops at Hawkesbury River.) ¹ Some services to Central in the morning peak hour also stops at West Ryde. ² One service to Gosford in the afternoon peak stops at Redfern. Most services stop at both Eastwood ans Epping. ³ The morning peak service also stops at Woy Woy. The evening peak service also stops at Tuggerah and Wyong.

Off peak pattern

1tph: Central, Strathfield, Eastwood, Epping, Hornsby, Berowra and then all stations to Wyong.

1tph: Central, Strathfield, Eastwood, Epping, Hornsby, Woy Woy, Gosford, Tuggerah all stations to Morisset, Fassifern, Cardiff, Broadmeadow, Hamilton, Civic and Newcastle.

1tph: Morisset and then all stations to Newcastle.

Weekend pattern

1tph: Central, Strathfield, Eastwood, Epping, Hornsby, Berowra and then all stations to Wyong.

0.5tph: Central, Strathfield, Eastwood, Epping, Hornsby, Woy Woy, Gosford, Tuggerah all stations to Morisset, Fassifern, Cardiff, Broadmeadow, Hamilton, Civic and Newcastle.

0.5tph: Central, Strathfield, Eastwood, Epping, Hornsby, Woy Woy, Gosford, Tuggerah all stations to Newcastle.

See also

• Main Northern Line- for details of history and construction.
• Newcastle Branch line- for the branch line between Broadmeadow and Newcastle.
• Woy Woy Tunnel.
• Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge.

Further reading

• The Short North Singleton C.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, May et seq, 1965

References