Suburban Section
The South Coast (Illawarra) line commences at the Illawarra Junction at Redfern. Here, a dive-under allows inter-city services from the South Coast line to cross underneath the main suburban railway lines to access Sydney Terminal. From the Illawarra junction, four tracks head south through the stations of Erskineville and St Peters to Sydenham. Immediately north of Erskineville station, the Illawarra lines are connected to the Illawarra Relief Lines which emerge from underground. These lines form the Eastern Suburbs line which opened in 1979. Heading south from Erskineville, the eastern-most pair of tracks are the Up and Down Illawarra lines which usually carry the Illawarra line passenger services.
The western-most pair of tracks are the Up and Down Illawarra local tracks which usually carry Bankstown and East Hills line express trains. To the west of the four tracks between Erskineville and Sydenham there is a reservation for a further pair of tracks with partially constructed platforms at Erskineville and St Peters stations. There are current plans to complete these tracks under the Rail Clearways plan, these tracks will be known as the Up and Down Illawarra relief lines.
At Sydenham, six platforms are provided, with Bankstown line services generally using the western-most pair (platforms 1 and 2), East Hills peak hour services using the inner pair (platforms 3 and 4) and Illawarra line services using the easternmost pair of platforms (platforms 5 and 6). South of Sydenham, the Bankstown line branches off in a westwards direction. The Botany Goods Line crosses over the Illawarra line via a flyover. The line then reaches Tempe station, before crossing the Cooks River.
South of the Cooks River lies Wolli Creek station, where the East Hills line branches off to the west. The Illawarra line continues south as four tracks through a rock cutting to the stations of Arncliffe (2 island platforms), Banksia (2 side platforms and an island platform) and Rockdale. Rockdale station has five platforms, platform 1 (the most westerly platform) is currently unelectrified and disused but was previously a terminating point for electric passenger trains. South of Rockdale, the line passes through Kogarah station (one island platform 2 & 3 and 2 side platforms 1 & 4) which has a shopping centre built overhead. The line then makes a westerly turn, heading through Carlton and Allawah stations (both with two island platforms).
The next station is Hurstville (2 island platforms), which is where the four track section ends and terminating facilities are provided. Like Kogarah, Hurstville has a shopping centre built above the platforms. South of Hurstville, the line becomes 2 tracks with bidirectional signalling. The line passes through Penshurst and Mortdale (island platforms). At Mortdale is the Mortdale maintenance depot which lies on the eastern side of the tracks with access points from the south of the station. The line then continues to Oatley which has an island platform and a set of points allowing trains to be turned-back.
The line then crosses the Georges River over the Como Bridge, which opened in 1972 replacing an older single track bridge which still exists to the east of the present structure and is used as a cycleway. The line enters the Sutherland Shire, passing through Como station (which was moved to its present, new site with the opening of the new bridge in 1972), and Jannali (side platforms) before reaching Sutherland.
At Sutherland, three platforms are provided. The Cronulla Line branches off in an eastwards direction south of the station. The former short branch line to Woronora Cemetery branched in a westerly direction at the south of the platforms. The line opened on 28 July 1900 and closed on 27 August 1944. The line then continues south through Loftus, Engadine, and Heathcote (all side platform stations). South of Loftus, the former Royal National Park line branched off, this has now been converted into a tram line connecting to the Sydney Tramway Museum, and connections to the mainline have been severed. The final station for the operation of suburban services is Waterfall station, which is an island platform. At Waterfall, there is a train stabling yard and a train turnback (shunting road) south of the station. South of Waterfall is the site of the 2003 Waterfall train disaster.
Read more about this topic: South Coast Railway Line, New South Wales, Description of Route
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