Bankstown railway line

The Bankstown railway line is a railway line serving the Inner West and Canterbury-Bankstown areas of Sydney. Currently, it extends from the Illawarra railway line at Sydenham via Bankstown to the Main Southern railway line at Sefton Park Junction, over which Sydney Trains operates passenger services as part of the T3 Bankstown Line. From late 2024, the line between Sydenham and Bankstown is expected to undergo an extended closure to facilitate conversion for use as part of the Sydney Metro network.

Route
The eastern endpoint of the line is at Meeks Road Junction, approximately 6 kilometres southwest of Central, where it branches from the Illawarra railway line just south of Sydenham. From here the line runs westward along the valley of the Cooks River, parallel to the Port Botany branch of the Metropolitan Goods railway line. 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 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, which has since been redeveloped for housing.

Bankstown is the foremost station on the line, and has a turnback loop to facilitate terminating trains immediately west of the station. Just beyond this 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 between Regents Park 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, cargo traffic is now confined to the parallel dedicated freight tracks.

Historic and current services
Following the completion of the connection to Sefton Park Junction in 1928, suburban passenger services historically operated as a loop, with services originating from the City Circle travelling along the length of the line before returning to the City Circle via Lidcombe and the Main Suburban railway line, and vice versa. This ceased in 2013 following completion of new turnbacks at Lidcombe and Homebush as part of the Rail Clearways Program.

Following this change, services from the City Circle via the Bankstown railway line instead continue onward to either Lidcombe or Liverpool instead. Sydney Trains continues to use this format, branded as the T3 Bankstown Line.

Future services
From late 2024, T3 services will be rerouted away from the Bankstown railway line to the Main Suburban railway line, while the line west of Bankstown will instead be serviced by the T6 Lidcombe & Bankstown Line. Meanwhile, east of Bankstown the line will be closed for works to convert it to Sydney Metro standards, after which it will be utilised by the Sydney Metro City & Southwest.

Branch to Belmore
The line opened on 1 February 1895, initially as a branch from the Illawarra railway line at Sydenham 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, 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 on 14 April 1909, with intermediate stations at Lakemba and Punchbowl. In 1916, the Metropolitan Goods railway line was constructed, running parallel to the line between Marrickville to Campsie. On 16 July 1928, the line was extended from Bankstown to Sefton Park Junction, where it joined the Main Southern railway line between Regents Park and Sefton. This allowed trains to operate to Liverpool, or in a loop back toward the City Circle via Lidcombe and the Main Suburban railway line.

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

Conversion for Sydney Metro services


As part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, the line from Sydenham to Bankstown is being converted from its current double deck commuter rail configuration to a rapid transit line. This will allow much a higher frequency service and will alleviate bottlenecks in the Sydney Trains 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 announced that the opening of Sydney Metro City & Southwest would be staged, with services metro services not reaching Bankstown until late 2025, after a 12-month closure of the line for conversion works. During this time, buses will replace rail services between Sydenham and Bankstown.