Redfern station (Sydney)

Redfern station is a railway station serving the Sydney suburb of Redfern. It is served by the T1 North Shore & Western Line, T2 Inner West & Leppington Line, T3 Bankstown Line, T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line, T8 Airport & South Line and T9 Northern Line of the Sydney Trains network. Some NSW TrainLink Intercity services also stop at the station.

History

In the early history of the New South Wales railways, Redfern station was the frequently used but unofficial name of the principal Sydney terminus, a fact which has led to persistent confusion. That station, the first Sydney Terminal, was north of Cleveland Street, which is Redfern's northern boundary, and south of Devonshire Street. It opened on 26 September 1855 in an area known as Cleveland Fields which is now the railway corridor called Sydney Yard. This original 'Redfern' station comprised one wooden platform in a corrugated iron shed. As traffic increased the original station was replaced in 1874 by a brick building containing two platforms. This second station, the second Sydney Terminal which grew to 14 platforms, was designed for through traffic if the lines were extended in the city direction. This second station was found to be too far from the city centre, so a new station (the present Sydney Central station) was built to the north of Devonshire Street and opened on 4 August 1906. The 1874 station was soon demolished.

A station was opened in 1876 1.3 kilometres west of the original Redfern and called Eveleigh. In 1885 Eveleigh's platforms were reconstructed at the present Redfern site, and on 21 October 1906 this station was renamed Redfern.

On 1 August 1926, a further two platforms opened on the southern side (9 and 10) as part of the electrification of the Illawarra railway line.

Work on underground platforms 11 and 12 began in the 1940s but did not finish until the 1970s when the Eastern Suburbs railway line was opened in 1979. It was proposed to build up to four platforms for the underground route. Two of these platforms were built and now are platforms 11 and 12, however, the other two platforms were half constructed to the side of platforms 11 and 12. These are visible through a small gap in the wall opposite Platform 11, as well as by a boarded up entry portal under the Lawson Street Bridge (which was to be the down track), and a now filled-in dive tunnel under the Wells Street Sectioning Hut on the Central side of Lawson Street. The area in which the platforms were to be situated is visible from the station concourse at the entrance to Platform 10.

Until 1994, Redfern had an overhead footbridge at the Eveleigh end of the platforms, connecting platforms 1-10 by stairs. This was demolished because the funds for its maintenance were not available.

A single track underground tunnel was built for steam locomotives from Central station to access Eveleigh Railway Workshops. Known as the Engine Dive, it dives to the north of Platform 1 surfacing at the southern end of Platform 10. A number of chimneys still exist, especially on Platform 1.

The present Redfern station was damaged by fire in a 2004 riot. The ticketing area and station master's office were significantly damaged - and the windows in the front of the station were bricked up for almost a year afterwards to prevent further attacks. They have since been replaced with glass windows.

The lack of wheelchair access and concerns about overcrowding have become an issue. Work on installing a lift to platforms 6 and 7 commenced on 13 April 2015. This requires most passengers needing a lift to change trains at Central and then travel to Redfern.

Station layout

Redfern has 12 platforms, 10 above ground (linked by stairs to the concourse at Lawson Street), and 2 underground (linked by stairs and escalators to the concourse at Gibbons Street). The two concourses are linked by a footbridge.

The station has three main entrances - the two northern entrances are the main entrance on Lawson Street and a second entrance on the corner of Lawson Street and Gibbons Street (especially for passengers using platforms 11 and 12), and a southern entrance on Marian Street which is accessed by walking along platform 10.

Platforms & services

Surface platforms

Platform type	Platform number	Line	Details	Next station (Up direction)	Next station (Down direction)
Side	1	Blue Mountains Line	Morning peak services to Central	Central	N/A
		Central Coast & Newcastle Line
		South Coast Line
		T7	Special event services to Central
		T9	Morning peak services to Central
Island	2	Blue Mountains Line	Evening peak services to Springwood, Katoomba, Mount Victoria & Lithgow	N/A	Strathfield
		Central Coast & Newcastle Line	Evening peak services to Gosford, Wyong & Newcastle
		South Coast Line	Evening peak services to Wollongong & Kiama		Wolli Creek
		T7	Special event services to Olympic Park		Strathfield
		T9	Evening peak services to Hornsby via Strathfield
	3	T1	Services to Hornsby & Berowra	Central	N/A
		T9	Services to Gordon
Island	4	T1	Services to Emu Plains & Richmond	N/A	Strathfield
		T9	Services to Epping & Hornsby via Strathfield		Burwood
	5	T2	Services to the City Circle	Central	N/A
Island	6	T2	Services to Parramatta & Leppington	N/A	Macdonaldtown
	7	T3	Services to the City Circle	Central	N/A
		T8	Morning peak services to the City Circle
Island	8	T3	Services to Lidcombe & Liverpool via Bankstown	N/A	Erskineville
		T8	Evening peak services to Macarthur via Sydenham & Revesby		St Peters
	9		Platform occasionally used by services commencing at Redfern	Central	N/A
Side	10		Platform occasionally used by services terminating at Redfern	N/A	None

Underground platforms

Platform type	Platform number	Line	Details	Next station (Up direction)	Next station (Down direction)
Island	11	T4	Services to Bondi Junction	Central	N/A
		South Coast Line	Services to Martin Place & Bondi Junction
	12	T4	Services to Cronulla & Waterfall via Hurstville	N/A	Sydenham
		South Coast Line	Services to Wollongong, Port Kembla, Dapto & Kiama		Wolli Creek
N/A			Platforms never completed	none

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from the following revision of the English Wikipedia article "Redfern railway station": https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Redfern_railway_station&oldid=863545135.

External links

• Gallery of unfinished platforms 13 & 14