Gerringong railway station is a single-platform intercity train station located in

Gerringong, New South Wales Gerringong () is a town located about ten minutes drive south of Kiama, and about twenty minutes north of Nowra in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia in the Municipality of Kiama. At the , Gerringong had a population of 3,966. On ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, on the South Coast railway line. The station serves

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 (Australia), Victoria, Queensland and South Austral ...

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

trains travelling south to

Bomaderry Bomaderry (locally known as "Bommo") is a town in the Shoalhaven council district area of New South Wales, Australia. At the , it had a population of 8,718 people. It is on the north shore of the Shoalhaven River, across the river from Nowra, ...

and north to

Kiama Kiama () is a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. Kiama features several popular surfing beaches and caravan parks, and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants ...

. Early morning and late night services to the station are provided by train replacement bus services. In the past, the station precinct also catered to freight trains carrying dairy products.

History

The NSW Government Railways opened its South Coast Line extension, from Bombo to Bomaderry, on 2 June 1893. The town was initially served by both the main Gerringong Station and a smaller, unmanned stop called Omega, two kilometres to the north. The timing was fortuitous: the district's main link to Sydney, the jetty at Boat Harbour, had been destroyed in a storm two years previously. The arrival of the railway marked the end of coastal shipping to Gerringong after close to half a century of service. The Gerringong district was home to a highly productive dairy industry. The opening of the railway dramatically improved local producers' access to the lucrative Sydney market, so the then Gerringong Co-Operative Dairy Society moved its operations to a site neighbouring the station in 1908. The factory's rail siding was extended in 1936. On the night of 18 August 1941, lightning struck wiring leading to Gerringong's weatherboard station building, setting it alight. A report in the local ''Kiama Reporter'' says that 150 townsfolk gathered at the scene, and a firehose was run from the adjacent factory to fight the blaze, but the building was lost – only the brick chimney and an iron safe remained. "The train from Sydney ... was held up for about twenty minutes on account of the fire," the ''Reporter'' recorded. A new brick station building was built in its place in 1942 in the functionalist style; it remains on the site in modified form today. Over time, freight declined in importance for the railway, and cost pressures led to the closure of low-patronage stations across the network. By 1986, the Omega railway station had closed, and in 1991 the dairy co-op abandoned its siding in favour of road transport.

Operations

The South Coast Line south of Kiama is non-electrified single track. Since 2001, northbound trains from Gerringong terminate at Kiama, requiring passengers to change to

electric multiple unit 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 ...

services to

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

and

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 Mounta ...

. In 2005, then

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 ...

John Watkins announced that electrification would be extended to the terminus at Bomaderry at an unspecified future date, but the proposal did not progress. Gerringong Station was upgraded to be wheelchair-accessible in 2012. In 2014, electronic ticketing in the form of the Opal smart card became available at the station.Opal card available on all Sydney trains by next Friday
''Sydney Morning Herald'' 20 March 2014

Platforms and services

Gerringong has one platform. It is serviced by

South Coast line The South Coast Line is an intercity rail service operated by NSW TrainLink that services the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The service runs from , and runs the entire length of the eponymous South Coast railway line to . T ...

services travelling between

and

References

External links

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Gerringong station details
Transport for New South Wales {{Transport for New South Wales railway stations, South Coast=y, state=collapsed Easy Access railway stations in New South Wales Railway stations in Australia opened in 1893 Regional railway stations in New South Wales