Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger

rail network Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

serving the city of

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 ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

is a hybrid

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

- suburban rail system with a central underground core that covers over of track and 170 stations over eight lines. It has

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

-equivalent train frequencies of every three minutes or better in the underground core, 5–10 minutes off-peak at most inner-city and major stations and 15 minutes off-peak at most minor stations. During the weekday peak, train services are more frequent. The network is managed by

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, ...

, and is part of its Opal ticketing system. In 2018–19, 377.1 million passenger journeys were made on the network.

History

In May 2012, the

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

announced a restructure of

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

, the organisation that owned and managed the metropolitan rail network and operated passenger services throughout New South Wales. Two new organisations were created to take over operation of the services from 1 July 2013. Sydney Trains acquired all suburban services in the Sydney metropolitan area bounded by Berowra,

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

, Macarthur and

Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

from RailCorp's

CityRail CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2003 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities in New South Wales, Australi ...

division. Intercity and

Hunter Line The Hunter Line is a commuter train line operated by NSW TrainLink, running from Newcastle to Dungog and Scone in the New South Wales Hunter Region. It operates on the Newcastle, Main North and North Coast lines. Description of Route Hunter ...

services previously operated by CityRail were taken over by NSW Trains (branded as

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 ...

). RailCorp remained as the owner of the network infrastructure. When first created as subsidiaries of RailCorp, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains were not controlled entities of RailCorp, but were instead controlled by

. In July, they ceased to be subsidiaries of RailCorp and became independent standalone agencies in July 2017.

Network changes

The first expansion of the Sydney suburban network during the Sydney Trains era occurred in 2015 when the

South West Rail Link The South West Rail Link is a railway line serving the developing suburbs of south-western Sydney, Australia between Glenfield and Leppington. Services form part of the Sydney Trains commuter rail network. It opened on 8 February 2015. Descr ...

opened between Glenfield and

Leppington Leppington is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Leppington is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Liverpool and Camden Counci ...

. In 2018, some sections of the network began to be transferred to the city's

and light rail networks. The Epping-Chatswood Rail Link between Chatswood 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 ...

was closed for conversion in September 2018 to form part of the

Sydney Metro Northwest Sydney Metro Northwest was a rapid transit project involving the construction of a rail line through the north-western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The line included the conversion of the existing Epping to Chatswood Ra ...

, which opened in May 2019. The section of the Carlingford Line between

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...

and Carlingford closed in January 2020 and will form part of the

Parramatta Light Rail The Parramatta Light Rail (often unofficially referred to as the Western Sydney Light Rail) is a project for a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which is under construction and due to start passenger services in 2024. The ...

network. The adjacent section of track between Clyde and Camellia, including Rosehill railway station, also became disused. The light rail is expected to open in 2023. The section of the

Bankstown Line The Bankstown Line (numbered T3, coloured orange) is a commuter rail line operated by Sydney Trains in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It serves Canterbury-Bankstown and parts of the Inner West and Western Sydney. The Bankstown railway ...

between

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

and

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...

will form part of

Sydney Metro City & Southwest Sydney Metro City & Southwest is a rapid transit project currently under-construction in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The project will extend the Metro North West Line from on the North Shore, to in the city's south-west via the Sydn ...

, which is due to open in 2024.

Operations

In July 2013, Howard Collins, the former Chief Operating Officer of

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

, was appointed as Chief Executive of Sydney Trains. Stewart Mills was appointed Acting Chief Executive in February 2020, succeeded by Suzanne Holden as Acting Chief Executive in June 2020. In addition to operating suburban train services, Sydney Trains maintains the

New South Wales Metropolitan Rail Area The New South Wales Metropolitan Rail Area (MRA) is the government-operated railway network centred on Sydney and bounded by Newcastle Interchange in the north, in the west, and Glenlee and in the south. The MRA contains the entirety of the st ...

, and maintains all but a handful of operational railway stations in the state. Platform at St James railway station, Sydney

Network

Sydney Trains operates electric suburban lines across metropolitan Sydney. In conjunction with a new timetable released on 20 October 2013, the Sydney Trains network was reorganised with a new numbering system. The number of lines was reduced from eleven to seven by merging several lines. An eighth line was created on 26 November 2017 by splitting the T2 line into two separate lines. T5 services were also modified to no longer travel to and from Campbelltown, instead starting and terminating at Leppington. From 28 April 2019, the T1 line from Gordon to Hornsby via Strathfield was renumbered T9, whilst the portion from Berowra to Richmond & Emu Plains via Chatswood and Parramatta remained T1. T9 is red in colour. The T6 Carlingford line, which operated between Clyde and Carlingford, ceased operations on 5 January 2020. Central Station Concourse Hall

The main hub of the Sydney Trains system is

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, which most lines pass through. Central is also the terminus of most NSW TrainLink lines. After leaving Central, trains coming from the T2 Inner West & Leppington Line, T3 Bankstown Line and T8 Airport & South Line then travel through the

City Circle The City Circle is a mostly-underground railway line located in the Sydney central business district and Haymarket, in New South Wales, Australia, that forms the core of Sydney's passenger rail network. The lines are owned by the Transport A ...

– a ring line beneath the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

. After completing the City Circle, these trains pass through Central for a second time and return to the suburbs. The T1 North Shore & Western, T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra and T9 Northern lines pass through the central business district and continue on to other areas of Sydney. The T5 Cumberland Line serves

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

and provides access to the major centre of

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

from the south west of the city without requiring a change of trains at Granville. The T7 Olympic Park Line is a suburban shuttle service.

NightRide

NightRide bus services established in 1989, replace trains between midnight and 4:30am, leaving the tracks clear of trains for maintenance work. Such bus services mainly stop near stations operating typically at hourly intervals (some routes depart more frequently on weekends). Many services depart the city from bus stops near Town Hall station. NightRide services are contracted to external bus operators and are identified by route numbers beginning with "N".

Rolling stock

Sydney Trains operates a fleet of double deck

electric multiple units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

. The trainsets are divided into the following classes: Though primarily operated by

, some H sets are also used on suburban services, and with the delivery of the D sets for operations on regional NSW TrainLink lines from 2020, most of the sets will be transferred to suburban services. All A, B and M sets are maintained by

Downer Rail Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde. History The E ...

. Their contract for the M sets was extended by 10 years from June 2017. All other types of trains including the V and H sets are maintained by UGL Unipart. The contract with UGL Unipart was extended for two years from 1 July 2019. The Sydney Trains network is divided into three sectors, based around three maintenance depots. Trainsets are identified by target plates, which are exhibited on the front lower nearside of driving carriages. Each target plate includes the letter of the class the set belongs to and the number of the individual set. Waratahs do not have a target plate, but instead, have the information written directly on the front of the train. The composition and formations of train sets and the target designations are subject to alteration. M sets and H sets carry green target plates.

Patronage

The following table lists patronage figures for the network during the corresponding financial year. Australia's financial years start on 1 July and end on 30 June. Major events that affected the number of journeys made or how patronage is measured are included as notes. Wynyard station ticket barriers eastern end August 2017 01

Wynyard station ticket barriers eastern end August 2017 01

Ticketing and costs

Sydney Trains currently uses the

Opal card Opal is a contactless fare collection system for public transport services in the greater Sydney area and most other urban areas of New South Wales, Australia. Operation of the Opal system is managed by the New South Wales Government's transpor ...

ticketing system which was introduced to the network in April 2014. The fare system is fully integrated with the Sydney Metro network and the

Intercity network – trips involving suburban, metro and intercity services are calculated as a single fare and there is no interchange penalty. Students who use the Sydney Trains network to get to and from schools can apply for a free school Opal card. Opal is also valid on bus, ferry, and light rail services but separate fares apply for these modes. The following table lists Opal fares for reusable smartcards and single trip tickets: ^ = $2.50 for Senior/Pensioner cardholders A surcharge is levied when using the two privately operated stations serving

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the ...

: As there are no return or periodical options available, reusable Opal cards include a number of caps to reduce the cost for frequent travellers: The previous ticketing system was introduced in 1992 and was based on

magnetic stripe The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They share ...

technology. It was shut down on 1 August 2016.

References

External links

Sydney Trains website

Sydney Trains on transportnsw.info website
{{International Metro Organizations Government railway authorities of Australia

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

Railway companies of New South Wales Passenger railway companies of Australia Railway companies established in 2013 Railway infrastructure companies of Australia Rail transport in Sydney Australian companies established in 2013 1500 V DC railway electrification