The Bankstown railway line is a suburban railway which traverses the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

and Canterbury-Bankstown areas of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. West of it is used by T6 Lidcombe & Bankstown services, while east of Bankstown it is temporarily closed to facilitate conversion for its future use by M1 North West & Bankstown services.

Route

As originally built, the line branched from the

Illawarra railway line The South Coast Railway (also known as the Illawarra railway or the South Coast line) is a Commuter rail, passenger and Rail freight transport, freight railway line from Sydney to Wollongong and Bomaderry, New South Wales, Bomaderry in New So ...

just south of

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...

at Meeks Road Junction, approximately 6 kilometres southwest of Central. From here the line runs westward along the valley of the

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various developme ...

, parallel to the

Metropolitan Goods railway line Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

. At Dulwich Hill the line passes by the former Wardell Road Junction, where the Dulwich Hill light rail line now terminates with an overbridge interchange to the railway station. Just past

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, the line crosses to the southern side of the Cooks River. From here the line passes through Campsie, after which the Metropolitan Goods railway line turns away from the alignment towards Enfield Yard. Between Punchbowl and Bankstown is the former location of the

Punchbowl Maintenance Depot The Punchbowl Maintenance Depot was a train storage and maintenance depot in the south-western Sydney suburb of Punchbowl. The depot opened in 1923 and was one of four electric train depots built under the Bradfield electrification plan, th ...

, which has since been redeveloped for housing."Punchbowl Closure Forces Timetable Changes" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways in Australia. Overview The magazine is published by the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was in March 1 ...

'' February 1995 page 8 Bankstown is the foremost station on the line. Originally a through station, it is being rebuilt into two abutting

terminal station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ...

s, with Sydney Metro services to operate eastward from it and Sydney Trains services to operate westward. Just west of Bankstown the line turns sharply northward, passing through Yagoona and Birrong to reach the western endpoint of the line at Sefton Park Junction. Here, the line connects to the

Main Southern railway line The Main Southern Railway (or Great Southern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West ...

between

Regents Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically between Marylebone and ...

and Sefton.

Services

The line has been used primarily for suburban passenger services since its opening. Though some freight services used the line earlier in its history,The Bankstown Line - an early history
CityRail cargo traffic is now confined to the dedicated freight tracks of the parallel

between and .

Historic services

Historically, the connection of the Bankstown railway line to other railway lines at each end allowed suburban passenger services to operate a large loop from the

City Circle The City Circle is a mostly-underground railway line located in the Sydney central business district and Haymarket, New South Wales, Haymarket, in New South Wales, Australia, that forms the core of Sydney's passenger rail network. The lines are ...

via the

Main Suburban railway line The Main Suburban railway line is the technical name for the trunk railway line between Redfern railway station and Parramatta railway station in Sydney, Australia, but now generally refers to the section between Redfern and where the Main Southe ...

, and to before returning to the City Circle via and the

, and vice versa. It also allowed services to begin from or Lidcombe and reach the City Circle via Bankstown and Sydenham without using the Main Suburban railway line. This was the configuration in which

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...

services most recently operated over the full length of the line, branded as the T3 Bankstown Line. This service was withdrawn on 30 September 2024.

Current and future services

In mid-October 2024, Sydney Trains began operating T6 Lidcombe & Bankstown services west from Bankstown to Lidcombe. East of Bankstown to Sydenham, services are suspended for works to convert the line to

Sydney Metro Sydney Metro is a fully automated rapid transit rail system in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It currently consists of the Metro North West & Bankstown Line, running between Tallawong and Sydenham and consisting of 21 stations on of t ...

standards, after which M1 North West & Bankstown services will operate over that part of the line.

History

Dulwich Hill railway station and Metropolitan Goods line

Branch to Belmore

The line opened on 1 February 1895, initially as a branch from the

to Belmore. Railway authorities initially conceived of the line as a opportunity to alleviate pressure on the Old Main South railway line by providing an alternate route to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, and also to advance development of the intervening land. However, the 1890s depression constrained the development of the line.

Extension to Bankstown and the Main Southern railway line

Increased suburban development prompted the line to be extended to

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 19 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Canterbury-Bankstown region. Bankstown is the administrative centre ...

on 14 April 1909, with intermediate stations at Lakemba and Punchbowl. In 1916, the

was constructed, running parallel to the line between

Marrickville Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local government ...

to Campsie. On 16 July 1928, the line was extended from Bankstown to Sefton Park Junction, where it joined the

between

and Sefton. This allowed trains to operate to Liverpool, or in a loop back toward the

via

Lidcombe Lidcombe () is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lidcombe is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland Council, with a small industrial part in the north in t ...

and the

Electrification

In 1926, the line between Sydenham and Bankstown became the second in Sydney to be electrified. To service the new electric rolling stock,

was built on the line just east of Bankstown. Electrification was extended from Bankstown to Regents Park in 1939. A new station between Lakemba and Punchbowl at

Wiley Park Wiley Park is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wiley Park is located 17 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown. History The now comprising ...

opened on 19 June 1938. Punchbowl Maintenance Depot closed in 1994.

Upgrades

In January 2006, a four-year project to upgrade the line was completed. The work included the re-sleepering of the entire line, replacing the former wooden sleepers with the more durable concrete ones, replacement and upgrade of the

signalling A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

, and also replacement of the ageing

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary ( , ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or wire rope, cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, ...

, mostly with the more modern double contact wire variety. The lengthy upgrade process was noted for its "January Closedowns", in which the entire line was closed in January for the bulk of the upgrade work to take place.

Conversion for Sydney Metro services

As part of the

Sydney Metro City & Southwest Sydney Metro City and Southwest is a rapid transit construction project in Sydney, Australia. The project will extend the Metro Northwest and Bankstown Line from on the North Shore, to in the city's southwest via the Sydney central busines ...

project, the line from Sydenham to Bankstown is being converted from its current double deck

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

configuration to a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

line. This will allow much a higher frequency service and will alleviate bottlenecks in the

system, but ensuring the line meets modern metro standards is a technically challenging undertaking, particularly with some of the stations which have curved platforms over a century old. Planning approval of the upgrade of the line between Sydenham and Bankstown was received in December 2018. Intermittent temporary closures began in December 2019 for works to prepare for the conversion to metro standards, with the expectation of a longer, extended closure to occur immediately prior to the commencement of metro services. In 2023, with conversion of the line having fallen a year behind schedule, the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

announced that the opening of Sydney Metro City & Southwest would be staged, with metro services not reaching Bankstown until late 2025, after a 12-month closure of the line for conversion works. Since 30 September 2024 the line east of Bankstown has been temporarily closed, with buses replacing rail services between Sydenham and Bankstown.

References

{{Railway lines in New South Wales, state=collapsed Canterbury, New South Wales Standard-gauge railways in Australia Bankstown, New South Wales