Sydenham station (Sydney)

Sydenham station is a railway and future metro station serving the Sydney suburb of Sydenham. It is on the Illawarra railway line. The station is served by the T3 Bankstown Line, T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line and T8 Airport & South Line of the Sydney Trains network.

History

Sydenham station opened on 15 October 1884 as Marrickville when the Illawarra railway line opened to Hurstville. It was renamed Sydenham on 19 January 1895.

In 1896, Sydenham became a junction station with the opening of the Bankstown railway line with the current platforms 3 and 4 opened. Two additional platform faces (now platforms 2 and 5) came with quadruplication in 1907. The substantial platform building on the current platform 2/3 island previously faced the street.

In 1928, the tracks were re-arranged with the current Platform 2 closed and platform 6 opened in its place. In 1960-62, to relieve congestion at the station and in preparation for the planned Eastern Suburbs railway line, Platform 2 was re-opened and another platform, now Platform 1, built. This resulted in Bankstown line trains being re-routed from current platforms 3 and 4 to the new platforms.

It had been intended that the tracks on platforms 1 and 2 would extend along the alignment to Erskineville as an adjunct to the Eastern Suburbs railway. This plan was never completed, although partial platforms were erected at St Peters and Erskineville in preparation. Because of this, Bankstown line trains continue to run on the same tracks as East Hills services, and the result of the additional platforms was that the Bankstown line's junction with the Illawarra line simply moved from the south of Sydenham station to the north. The construction of Platform 1 included a brick parcel office on the northern end of the platform. One of the few free-standing parcel offices on the Sydney network, it was in service until the 1980s. Now closed, the building itself remains standing.

This arrangement gave Sydenham station side platforms at both the eastern and western extremities of the station (platforms 1 and 6 respectively) and two island platforms for the four inner tracks. Platforms 1 and 2 served the Bankstown Line and Platforms 5 and 6 served the Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line. Prior to the opening of the Airport line in May 2000, all East Hills line services operated via platforms 3 and 4. Since the opening of the new line, most East Hills trains ran via the Airport line, although some peak hour services continued to travel via Sydenham using these platforms.

A new concourse including four lifts and new stairs to access the platforms opened in February 2013. The upgrade also included new ticketing facilities, a new family accessible toilet and staff facilities.

The station has seen changes as a result of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. A new footbridge is being constructed at the northern end of the platforms to improve interchanges between services. Platforms 1 and 2 closed in December 2019 to allow metro conversion works to take place; Bankstown Line services were transferred to platforms 3 and 4. Following conversion of most of the Bankstown railway line to metro standards, the T3 Bankstown Line services through Sydenham will be replaced with metro services of what is presently known as the Metro North West Line. The stations north of Sydenham currently served by the T3 - St Peters and Erskineville - will be transferred to another Sydney Trains line, although full plans for this have not been announced.

Station layout

The station features a large overhead concourse at the southern end which connects to a road bridge over the tracks. Immediately south of the station, the Metropolitan Goods Line to Port Botany crosses over the passenger lines via a bridge that opened in 1925, while beyond lies the XPT Service Centre.

Platforms and services

Platform type	Platform number	Line	Details	Next station (Up direction)	Next station (Down direction)	Notes
Side	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Platform opened 1962, closed 2019.
Island	2	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Platform opened 1907, closed 1928, reopened 1962, closed again 2019.
	3	T3	Services to the City Circle.	St Peters	N/A	Original platform.
		T8	Limited services to the City Circle.	St Peters	N/A
Island	4	T3	Services to Lidcombe & Liverpool via Bankstown.	N/A	Marrickville	Original platform.
		T8	Limited services to Macarthur.	N/A	Revesby
	5	T4	Services to the city & Bondi Junction.	Redfern	N/A	Platform opened 1907.
Side	6	T4	Services to Cronulla & Waterfall via Hurstville.	N/A	Tempe	Platform opened 1928.

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from the following revision of the English Wikipedia article "Sydenham railway station, Sydney": https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sydenham_railway_station,_Sydney&oldid=849937686.