The Northern Sydney Freight Corridor (NSFC) was a project to improve access between

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

for freight trains. Frequent passenger services operate on the Main Northern line between

Strathfield Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A ...

and

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

, with the exception of the

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

freight loop which was delivered in June 2012 by the

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

.Northern Sydney Freight Corridior project profile
Transport for NSW The final stage was completed in June 2016.

Previously existent infrastructure

Pennant Hills-Thornleigh track arrangement pre NSFC

In addition to the two main tracks, there is an extra Down (northbound) line from

North Strathfield North Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West (Sydney), inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Strathfield is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Austr ...

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

and a disused extra Up (southbound) track from

Concord West Concord West (also known as West Concord) is a suburb on the periphery of Sydney's inner-west, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Concord West is located 16 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local governmen ...

to North Strathfield. Between

West Ryde West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

and

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

, there is a quadruplicated section of track. Between

Pennant Hills Pennant Hills is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Pennant Hills is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby ...

and

Thornleigh Thornleigh is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Thornleigh is located 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government are ...

, there are two loops, but these are too short to accommodate 1,500 metre trains. As part of the

Rail Clearways Program The Rail Clearways Programme was conceived in 2004 with the aim of easing congestion of Sydney's suburban railway network, by reducing the amount of infrastructure shared by multiple services. The disparate projects at pinch points througho ...

in August 2006, an additional platform was opened at Berowra, and in March 2009, an additional platform and passing loop was opened at Hornsby. These allow overtaking of terminating suburban trains. There are also refuges at

Cowan Cowan or Cowans may refer to: Places Australia * Cowan, New South Wales * Cowan Creek, a waterway to the north of Sydney, Australia * Division of Cowan, a federal division of the Australian House of Representatives, in Western Australia * Hundr ...

and

Broadmeadow Broadmeadow is the geographic center of Newcastle city. Its main commercial hub is located at the "Nineways".Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

, Morisset and Awaba but these are not capable of accommodating the longer freight trains.

Projects

In December 2011, the New South Wales and Federal Governments signed an intergovernmental agreement to develop a series of NSFC projects. The Federal Government will contribute $840 million and the State Government $214 million.Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Locked In
Minister for Infrastructure & Transport 7 December 2011 The projects were:

North Strathfield underpass

Northern Sydney Freight Corridor (NSFC) Track diagram for NS to Rhodes

The Main Northern Line commences at

where it diverges from the Main Suburban Line. The junction includes four tracks for services to or from the east and one track for services to or from the west. This westbound track is bi-directional and is mainly used by freight trains. Prior to the completion of the North Strathfield underpass, southbound trains that would be heading west were required to cross the northbound track via a

flat junction A level junction (or in the United Kingdom a flat crossing) is a railway junction that has a track configuration in which merging or crossing railroad lines provide track connections with each other that require trains to cross over in front of ...

. The project removed the conflict by constructing an underpass beneath the Main Northern Line for southbound trains. In addition, 850 metres of disused southbound track between Concord West and Strathfield was brought back into use and extended 2.4 km northwards.

received a new concourse and a fourth platform face. The line is electrified, although the only booked passenger journeys to work via the underpass are special event trains to

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics c ...

."Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Update" ''Railway Digest'' December 2014 pages 28-29 It opened on 9 June 2015.

Epping to Thornleigh third track

The line from Epping to Thornleigh features a steep gradient slowing heavy freight trains. A third 6 kilometre track allows northbound freight trains to be passed by faster passenger trains. It connects to the existing northbound passing loop from Pennant Hills to Thornleigh. The project required the construction of a new bridge over the

M2 Motorway This is a list of roads designated M2: Europe * M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland * M-2 highway (Monteneg ...

and station modifications at

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Beecroft and

, with Cheltenham receiving a new concourse. The line was electrified, and although additional platform faces were built at Cheltenham and Pennant Hills, it is not planned to be used by stopping passenger trains however will provide for some flexibility in case of service disruptions. The new track opened on 14 June 2016.

Gosford refuge loops

This project involved the construction of two passing loops and six bridges on either side of the existing rail line between

and

Narara Narara () is a List of Central Coast suburbs, suburb just north of Gosford, New South Wales, Gosford on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Local government areas of New So ...

stations. The northbound line was electrified allowing

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...

services to use it. It opened on 23 February 2015.

Hexham refuge loop

This project completed in June 2012, involved construction of a 1,500 metre refuge loop on the northern side of the Sydney bound main line west of Hexham station.Northern Sydney Freight Corridor: One Down; Three To Go
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport 20 July 2012

References

{{Reflist, 2 Rail freight transport in Australia Rail infrastructure in New South Wales Rail transport in Sydney