Newcastle and Central Coast railway line, New South Wales

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Newcastle & Central Coast line
Overview
Mode	Regional rail line Coach service
Area
Map colour	Red/Grey
Owner	CityRail
Design
Length	168 km
Stations	31
Connects	Central Woy Woy Gosford Wyong Fassifern Toronto (by coach) Hamilton Newcastle
1887	Opened
Operations
Operator(s)	CityRail
Fleet	V, G, K and H (Oscar) sets
Depot(s)	Flemington Hornsby
Public transport |  v • d • e

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.

Future

From October 11, 2009, Newcastle & Central Coast Line services will be streamlined with the majority of weekday services and all weekend services stopping at Epping and Eastwood Stations. This is to provide consistency as well as interconnecting services to the Epping-Chatswood Rail Link on the Northern Line.

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

Stopping Patterns

• 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, Eastwood, Strathfield, Central and vice-versa (daytime off-peak and peak hours) †
• Pattern 3: Wyong, all to Berowra, Hornsby, Epping, 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, 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. ¹ One service 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 either Eastwood or Epping (not both- but there is no regular pattern to this). ³ The morning peak service also stops at Woy Woy. The evening peak service also stops at Tuggerah and Wyong.

See also

• Main Northern Line- for details of history and construction.
• Newcastle Branch line- for the branch line between Broadmeadow and Newcastle.

Further reading

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

References