Unanderra railway station is located on the South Coast railway line in the

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 wa ...

suburb of

Unanderra, New South Wales Unanderra ( ) is a suburb of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 6 km south-west of the Wollongong CBD. It is bordered to the west by Farmborough, Cordeaux Heights and Farmborough Heights in the Mount Kembla ...

, Australia.

History

The first railway in the district was a privately operated track between

Mount Kembla Mount Kembla is a suburb and a mountain in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb, a semi-rural township of Wollongong, gets its name from the mountain, located on the Illawarra escarpment, is derived from an Aborig ...

and

Port Kembla A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

, opened in 1882 to bring coal to port. In 1912, the NSW Government Railways assumed control of the line east of Unanderra. The government railway from Clifton to North Kiama opened in 1887 and included a single-platform Unanderra Station complete with

weatherboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

platform building and stationmaster's residence. Premier George Fuller turned the first sod for the Illawarra Mountain Railway – now known as the Unanderra–Moss Vale line – at Unanderra on 26 June 1925. Fuller, whose family owned much of the

Shellharbour Shellharbour (also known as Shellharbour Village) is a suburb located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It also gives its name to the local government area, City of Shellharbour, and its central business district, Shellhar ...

district (indeed, Dunmore was named for his father's birthplace), took a keen interest in the development of the railways in his native

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

region. Despite costs doubling to £3 million, the line opened in August 1932, channelling freight traffic from the Southern Tablelands and Riverina regions through Unanderra and on to Port Kembla. To accommodate the increased traffic, the line was expanded to three tracks through the town, and the station became an island platform. Between 1983 and 1988, electrical masts were installed along a section of the Moss Vale line near Unanderra in preparation for the subsequently cancelled Maldon–Dombarton rail link. For further history see Unanderra–Moss Vale railway line. The line through Unanderra was electrified in 1993. In 2009, the NSW Government announced that it would install lifts at Unanderra Station at a cost of $11.4 million. The project stalled the following year after it was discovered that the plans had been approved without a proper utilities search at the site: water, gas and signal cables would need to be relocated to accommodate the lift shafts, at an additional cost of $5 million. By that stage, the platform building had been replaced and the platforms resurfaced. Following a change of government in 2011, the project was cancelled in favour of accessibility projects at

Albion Park Albion Park is a suburb situated in the Macquarie Valley in the City of Shellharbour, which is in turn one of the three local government areas that comprise the Wollongong Metropolitan Area, New South Wales, Australia. Although it is surround ...

Dapto Dapto is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western side of Lake Illawarra and covering an area 7.15 square kilometres in size. As at the , the suburb had a population of 10,730. History ...

and

Gerringong 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. O ...

; and a new station at Flinders. In response to criticism from the Opposition, the new transport minister simply noted that "unfortunately, commitments made by Labor when in government did not come to fruition." The absence of a lift has received significant local media coverage since that time. Electronic ticketing, in the form of the Opal smartcard system, arrived at the station in 2014. The lift access upgrade was finally completed in June 2023, which involved construction of a new footbridge and a lift to the island platform, linked by a lift at each side entrance to the station. Unanderra_Railway_Station_Western_Entrance.jpg, Western Entrance Unanderra_Railway_Station_Eastern_Entrance.jpg, Eastern Entrance

Platforms and services

Unanderra has one island platform with two side faces. It is serviced by NSW TrainLink

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 Sydney Central, Bondi Junction and

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 ...

. Unlike other New South Wales stations, Platform 2 is for Sydney bound services, with trains normally operating on the right-hand side of the platform rather than the left. Platform 1 is on the western side while Platform 2 is on the eastern side.

Transport links

Premier Illawarra operates seven bus routes via Unanderra station, under

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

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, ...

: *31:

to Horsley *33: Wollongong to

*35: to Wollongong *36: Wollongong to Kembla Heights *37:

Beach to Wollongong station via

Oak Flats Oak Flats is a suburb of Shellharbour, New South Wales, Australia situated on the south western shores of Lake Illawarra and within the Illawarra region of New South Wales. It is a residential area, which had a population of 6,415 at the . Oak F ...

anti-clockwise loop *41: Dapto to

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

*57: Wollongong station to Wollongong Beach via Shellharbour & Oak Flats clockwise loop

References

External links

*
Unanderra station details
Transport for New South Wales {{Transport for New South Wales railway stations, South Coast=y, state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Wollongong Railway stations in Australia opened in 1887 Regional railway stations in New South Wales Short-platform railway stations in New South Wales, 6 cars