The Goods Line is an

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear p ...

and shared pedestrian pathway and

cycleway Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except wher ...

in the suburb of Ultimo, in the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

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. The corridor connects

Railway Square Railway Square is a plaza at the southern end of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia, formed by the confluence of Broadway, Lee Street, Pitt Street and George Street. The square itself is a very busy intersection an ...

to Darling Harbour in the south and passes both the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

campus and the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

Sydney head office. The Goods Line terminates in the north at the corner of Sussex and

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

Streets, in the Sydney central business district.

Description

From the southern end, the Goods Line walkway commences at the southern end of

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 ...

at the beginning of the Devonshire Street Tunnel. The tunnel is a pedestrian tunnel that was opened in 1906, joining Devonshire Street with Lee Street. From the exit of the tunnel one enters Henry Deane Plaza, which sits slightly below the level of Lee Street, and descends a ramp at the other end of the Plaza to enter the extension tunnel beneath Lee Street. The extension tunnel continues under Lee Street,

and George Street and, at each of these points, the extension tunnel can be exited or entered by stairs and escalators. There are no entry/exit points to the tunnel via any buildings. The extension tunnel then continues under the TAFE Marcus Clark Building and opens behind the Wembley House at 841 George Street. To the west of the end of the extension tunnel, two steel rails appear from under a pair of large gates. The gates block entry to the northern end of the Railway Square road overbridge which in the past, provided access for trains using the railway line to Darling Harbour. From this point, the Goods Line walkway makes use of the former railroad's infrastructure, including the Ultimo Road railway underbridge. The walkway exits the rail corridor near the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill. Although often de ...

, crosses Darling Drive and terminates at the corner of Sussex and

Streets.

Background

The Goods Line uses the route of a former freight railway line that connected Sydney Yard and the Sydney – Parramatta railway line to the shipping port of Darling Harbour. The railway line opened in 1855 and was extended to Dulwich Hill in 1922, providing a way for freight trains to access Darling Harbour without interfering with passenger trains.Forsyth, J.H. (ed.) (1988–93), Stations & Tracks; Vol. 1: "Main Suburban & Branches – Illawarra & Branches". State Rail Authority of New South Wales: Sydney, p. 97. A short branch from Lilyfield to

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

served another freight terminal. The port facilities at Darling Harbour closed down and the precinct was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s. In the following years, the Lilyfield – Sydney Yard section became disused and with the

Inner West Light Rail The Inner West Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, running from Central railway station through the Inner West to Dulwich Hill and serving 23 stops. It is the original line of the Sydney light rail network ...

that opened between Pyrmont and Central station in 1997 using part of its alignment."Sydney's new light rail system" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia. Overview The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published in ...

'' September 1997 page 14 The light rail leaves the former railway corridor at Hay Street, leaving a short section of the corridor disused. The section of the former goods line corridor from the northern end of the Devonshire Street Tunnel to Ultimo Road was converted to pedestrian and was originally called the Ultimo Pedestrian Network until it was renamed The Goods Line in 2012. Plans were then announced to expand the pathway through to Hay Street. This second section opened on 30 August 2015. The adjacent

Dr Chau Chak Wing Building Dr Chau Chak Wing Building is a business school building of the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the first building in Australia designed by Canadian American architect Frank Gehry. Description The ...

opened earlier in 2015; an entrance to the building is provided from The Goods Line.

Design

The Goods Line was designed by ASPECT Studios and CHROFI. Design features include grassy lawns, dining tables, table tennis tables, study pods and a children's water play area with a sand pit. The design choices also took cues from the railways, and the designers suggested that instead of transporting materials and produce, the corridor now transports commodities of the modern economy: ideas, people, social and cultural interactions. Several rail artefacts have been preserved, including the Ultimo Road railway underbridge, built in 1879, and a

lever frame Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals, track locks and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control. Usually located in the signal box, the ...

from the Ultimo Street Signal Box. The design won a 2014

Australia Award for Urban Design The Australia Award for Urban Design is a national annual urban design award in Australia. Established in 2001, it is the successor of the Prime Minister's Urban Design Task Force Award that started in 1996.The Award is hosted by the Planning Inst ...

in the Policies, Programs and Concepts – Small Scale category.

Future

The original section, from Railway Square to Ultimo Road, will be upgraded.

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, ...

is conducting a feasibility study on an extension towards the disused Regent Street railway station using the rail tunnel under Railway Square.

References

External links