Bankstown Line (Sydney Trains)

This article is about the Sydney Trains service that operated on the line. For the physical railway line, see Bankstown railway line. For the T6 service that operates between Lidcombe and Bankstown, see Lidcombe & Bankstown Line. For the new T3 service that replaced the Bankstown Line, see Liverpool & Inner West Line.

Bankstown Line
A B set at the now closed Dulwich Hill station in September 2024
Overview
Owner	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Locale	Sydney, New South Wales
Termini	Central Liverpool Lidcombe
Stations	33
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	Sydney Trains
Depot(s)	Flemington
Rolling stock	K, M, A and B sets
History
Opened	1 February 1895 (1895-02-01)
Closed	30 September 2024 (2024-09-30)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Sydney rail services Metro North West & Bankstown North Shore & Western Leppington & Inner West Liverpool & Inner West Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Cumberland Lidcombe & Bankstown Olympic Park Airport & South Northern

The Bankstown Line (formerly numbered T3, coloured orange) was a commuter rail line operated by Sydney Trains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It previously served Bankstown, Lidcombe and Liverpool. The Main Suburban railway line was the physical railway line which carried the section of the Inner West & Liverpool Line between Redfern and Lidcombe, followed by the Main South railway line between Lidcombe and Liverpool. On 30 September 2024, a significant portion of the line closed between Bankstown and Sydenham as part of conversion works to facilitate the extension of the Sydney Metro's North West & Bankstown Line along the existing rail corridor to Bankstown. The Bankstown-Sydenham section of the line will thus operate under the Sydney Metro network upon its re-opening in 2025.

The closure of the Bankstown-to-Sydenham section of the line resulted in a reclassification of services along the rest of the remaining line. The section of the line between Liverpool and Lidcombe (which runs on the Main South Line) was reclassified as the Liverpool & Inner West Line, retaining the T3 numbering. The part of the line between Bankstown and Lidcombe continues to operate as a short shuttle line, known as the Lidcombe & Bankstown Line, numbered T6.

Prior to September 2024, the Bankstown Line operated between the City Circle and Lidcombe or Liverpool via Bankstown and Sydenham, using the physical Bankstown railway line.

History

Railway line history

The Bankstown railway line opened between Sydenham on the Illawarra railway line and Belmore in 1895. This was the second solely suburban line to open in Sydney, following the North Shore railway line in 1890–all other rail lines were mainlines carrying traffic into and out of Sydney. In 1909, the line was extended to Bankstown, with intermediate stations at Lakemba and Punchbowl. In 1916, the Metropolitan Goods Line was constructed, running parallel to the Bankstown Line between Marrickville and Campsie. A second extension, from Bankstown to Birrong, opened in 1928. This provided connections to the main suburban railway at Lidcombe and the main south line to Liverpool. A new station between Lakemba and Punchbowl at Wiley Park opened in 1938.

In 1926, the Bankstown Line became the second line in Sydney to be electrified and a maintenance depot was constructed at Punchbowl. Electrification was extended from Bankstown to Regents Park in 1939. The Punchbowl Maintenance Depot closed in 1994.

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

Commuter line history

Electric passenger services operated along the Bankstown Line to Wynyard station until the 1956 opening of Circular Quay station and the completion of the City Circle. In 1979, with the opening of the Eastern Suburbs line, the direction around the City Circle reversed with trips from Bankstown going to St James first and vice versa.

Operation of the Bankstown Line had been tied to the operation of all stations services on the Main Suburban railway line between Lidcombe and the city (marketed as the Inner West Line). Services consisted of a mixture of "Bankstown loop" trains (City - Sydenham - Bankstown - Lidcombe - Strathfield - City) and trains from both sides of the loop (Birrong or Regents Park) heading to Sefton and then further west. Until the early 2000s, a number of Bankstown trains continued via the Western Line to Blacktown via Granville and Parramatta.

A new timetable released in October 2013 broke the loop between the two lines. As part of the Rail Clearways Program, new turnbacks were constructed at Lidcombe and Homebush to allow the separation of both lines and increase their reliability and frequency. Services were also changed to operate mostly around the City Circle via Town Hall on weekdays (rather than via Museum). As part of the timetable change, a new numbering system was also introduced and the line was given the number T3. A sextuplication project between Erskineville and Sydenham was also proposed as part of the Rail Clearways Program, but was cancelled in 2011. It was intended to separate Bankstown line services from those operating towards East Hills. The 2013 timetable sees most East Hills line trains using the Airport line to access the city.

The line was depicted in a brown colour in the early 1990s before being changed to a purple colour around 2000, before it became the orange colour.

Closure

Main articles: Sydney Metro City & Southwest and Metro North West & Bankstown Line

As part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest construction project, conversion of the Sydenham to Bankstown section of the line is expected to be complete by 2025. A tunnel was constructed between Sydenham and Chatswood, for access to the city, which opened in 2024. The stations of St Peters and Erskineville will be served by the Airport & South Line instead, and the stations west of Bankstown towards Lidcombe and Liverpool will not be converted under this project. The NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into the Sydenham-Bankstown line conversion recommended that the direct train to City via Lidcombe be restored for commuters west of Bankstown. The NSW Government rejected most recommendations from this report.

In December 2020, Transport for NSW announced it was considering when the Bankstown Line closes for conversion to metro in 2024, the Liverpool to city service via Regents Park and Lidcombe will be reinstated and a shuttle branch service will run between Lidcombe and Bankstown. Regents Park will be the main interchange point between both lines as the direct train between Bankstown and Liverpool will be withdrawn.

In November 2022, Transport for NSW released plans to consider closing Birrong, Yagoona, and other stations in the West of Bankstown after the opening of Sydney Metro City & Southwest. Buses would replace trains in the West of Bankstown towards Lidcombe and Liverpool, however this no longer appears part of revised planning for opening of Sydney Metro City & Southwest.

In April 2023, the NSW Government announced an independent review into the Sydney Metro project.

In August 2023, the NSW Government in response to the recommendation of the Sydney Metro Review Interim Report, announced the continuation of the Sydney Metro Southwest project between Sydenham and Bankstown including a 12-month temporary closure from September 2024 onwards. The proposal will see Bankstown line services replaced with Southwest Link bus replacement services with the section between Lidcombe and Bankstown to be re-numbered as the T6 Lidcombe & Bankstown Line. Southwest Link bus services will be free and run on three separate routes along the former Bankstown Line service.

On 30 September 2024, the original T3 Bankstown Line was closed between Sydenham and Bankstown permanently to allow for the line to be converted to Sydney Metro services. As a result of that, the line was renamed from the T3 Bankstown Line to the T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line, with trains now operating via the Inner West Line.

Commuter line route

Passenger services began at Town Hall station on the City Circle. Most services operate around the City Circle in a clockwise direction to Central, then through Redfern. However both inbound and outbound trains can also travel in the counterclockwise direction around the City Circle from 2017. After Central, trains entered the Illawara railway line, using the local (western pair) tracks, stopping at St Peters and Erskineville stations. Just south of Sydenham, all trains took the turnout onto the Bankstown railway line. At Sefton Park Junction (west of Birrong), trains were able to turn onto both directions of the Main Southern railway line, running to Liverpool or Lidcombe.

The line served two major centres in Western Sydney, namely Bankstown and Liverpool.

T3 stations

Name	Distance from Central	Opened	Railway line	Serving suburbs	Other lines
Town Hall – Birrong
Town Hall	1.2 km	1932	City Circle	Sydney, Darling Harbour	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9
Wynyard	2.1 km	1932		Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point	T1 T2 T8 T9
Circular Quay	3.0 km	1956		Circular Quay, Sydney The Rocks, Millers Point	T2 T8
St James	4.3 km (dist via Town Hall)	1926		Sydney
Museum	5 km (dist via Town Hall)	1926		Sydney
Central	0 km	1855		Central, Strawberry Hills Ultimo, Surrey Hills	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9
Redfern	1.3 km	1878	Illawarra	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington The University of Sydney	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9 (T8 peak hours only)
Erskineville	2.9 km	1884		Erskineville, Macdonaldtown, Newtown	none
St Peters	3.8 km	1884		St Peters, Alexandria, Erskineville, Newtown	T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Sydenham	5.3 km	1884		Sydenham, Marrickville, St Peters	T4 T8 (T8 peak hours only)
Marrickville	6.6 km	1895	Bankstown	Marrickville, Marrickville South	none
Dulwich Hill	7.9 km	1895		Dulwich Hill, Marrickville, Hurlstone Park
Hurlstone Park	8.8 km	1895		Hurlstone Park, Canterbury
Canterbury	10.2 km	1895		Canterbury
Campsie	11.7 km	1895		Campsie
Belmore	13.3 km	1895		Belmore
Lakemba	14.5 km	1909		Lakemba
Wiley Park	15.4 km	1938		Wiley Park, Lakemba, Punchbowl
Punchbowl	16.5 km	1909		Punchbowl
Bankstown	18.7 km	1909		Bankstown
Yagoona	20.6 km	1928		Yagoona
Birrong	22.1 km	1928		Birrong
Birrong – Lidcombe
Regents Park	19.9 km	1912	Main South	Regents Park	none
Berala	18.4 km	1912		Berala
Lidcombe	16.6 km	1858		Lidcombe	T1 T2 T7
Birrong – Liverpool
Sefton	21.2 km	1924	Main South	Sefton	none
Chester Hill	22.3 km	1924		Chester Hill
Leightonfield	23.7 km	1942		Villawood
Villawood	24.5 km	1924		Villawood
Carramar	25.9 km	1924		Carramar
Cabramatta	28.4 km	1870		Cabramatta	T2 T5
Warwick Farm	34.2 km	1889		Warwick Farm
Liverpool	35.7 km	1856		Liverpool

Patronage

The following table shows the patronage of Sydney Trains network for the year ending 30 June 2022.

2023–24 Sydney Trains patronage by line

T1	86,736,689
T2	47,048,199
T3	20,178,194
T4	54,802,802
T5	8,028,853
T6	–
T7	1,345,017
T8	37,691,564
T9	22,303,028

External links

• "T3: Bankstown line timetable". Transport for NSW.
• CityRail News and Media - Completion of the Bankstown line upgrade
• CityRail News and Media - History of the Bankstown line