The Airport Link (also known as the Airport Line or New Southern Railway) is
Sydney's inner-southern railway line connecting
Sydney Airport
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...
to the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
and the south-western suburbs of
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
. With the exception of
Wolli Creek
Wolli Creek () is an urban watercourse of the Cooks River catchment located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia.
Course and features
Wolli Creek rises south of Narwee, within Beverly Hills Park, Beverly Hills. The ...
, the Airport Line stations are operated by a private company, the
Airport Link Company, as part of a
public private partnership
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...
. The contract, which expires in 2030, allows the company to charge a surcharge on top of the normal fare.
The line is served by
Sydney Trains
Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.
The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...
T8 Airport & South line services.
Alignment
The Airport Link includes a four-kilometre rock tunnel and a six-kilometre soft ground tunnel. The tunnel is below the earth's surface.
For most of its length, the line travels underground. It runs south from platform 23 at
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 ...
across a viaduct to the tunnel portal beneath
Prince Alfred Park
Prince Alfred Park is an urban park in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. It is bounded by Chalmers Street to the east, Cleveland Street to the south and the Main Suburban railway line to the west.
History
In December 1865, part of Cleveland Paddo ...
near
Chalmers Street
Chalmers Street is a one way street in Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business dis ...
. The tunnel roughly follows George Street underneath the suburbs of
Redfern and
Waterloo. At
Green Square station, beneath the intersection of Botany Road, Bourke Road and O'Riordan Street, the line continues beneath Bourke Road to
Mascot station, a block south of Gardeners Road.
From Mascot, the line roughly follows O'Riordan Street before turning sharply to the west once underneath
Sydney Airport
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...
. The line runs westward under the
Domestic
Domestic may refer to:
In the home
* Anything relating to the human home or family
** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication
** A domestic appliance, or home appliance
** A domestic partnership
** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...
and
International
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
terminals before continuing north-west underneath the
Cooks River
The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The course of the urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various developme ...
to reach the surface at
Wolli Creek
Wolli Creek () is an urban watercourse of the Cooks River catchment located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia.
Course and features
Wolli Creek rises south of Narwee, within Beverly Hills Park, Beverly Hills. The ...
where it joins the
East Hills line. The line is two tracks for its entire length.
The two new stations which were built for the airport's International and Domestic Terminals, feature larger lifts and wider ticket barriers to cater for passengers with baggage. Three new suburban stations were built – one each for the residential development areas of Mascot and Green Square, and an interchange station with the
Illawarra line at Wolli Creek.
Construction
In 1990, the
State Government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
called for Expressions of Interest to build a line to the airport. In July 1994, the Government announced it had entered a
public private partnership
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...
with Australian investment company
Transfield Services and French construction company
Bouygues
Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...
to build the line. Under the deal, a private company,
Airport Link Company, would cover the costs of building four of the stations. In return it would operate those stations for 30 years and have the right to impose a surcharge on fares for their use.
The company's involvement was predicated on passenger estimates and train reliability guarantees that later proved to be optimistic. The State Government would fund (and own) the railway itself and Wolli Creek station.
[
Construction began on 12 February 1995 with a view to improving facilities for air travellers ahead of the ]2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
. At the time, the main public transport link between the city and its airport were two Sydney Buses express routes, the 300 to Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping terminal, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern edge of the ...
and 350 to Kings Cross branded as ''Airport Express''.
A tunnel boring machine
A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...
was used for the construction. Manufactured by the German firm, Herrenknecht
Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg, it is the worldwide market leader for heavy TBMs.
Established by Martin Herrenknecht in 1975, the ...
, it arrived in Australia in October 1996. While the use of a Tunnel boring machine relieved the need for large numbers of workers at increased pressure, a caisson system is formed at the cutting head. Workers entering this space for inspection, maintenance and repair had to be trained.[ Medical direction was utilised for planning compression and decompression, assessment of fitness to dive, training of workers and lock operators, health monitoring of workers and treatment of related injuries.][ This project was the first time ]oxygen
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
decompression tables
There are several categories of decompression equipment used to help divers decompress, which is the process required to allow divers to return to the surface safely after spending time underwater at higher ambient pressures.
Decompression o ...
were used for caisson work in Australia.[ The incidence of ]decompression illness
Decompression Illness (DCI) comprises two different conditions caused by rapid decompression of the body. These conditions present similar symptoms and require the same initial first aid. Scuba divers are trained to ascend slowly from depth to av ...
was 1 case in every 286 pressurisations (0.35%) and this problem affected 5.9% of the workers.[
In conjunction with the construction of the new line, the section of the East Hills Line between Wolli Creek Junction and ]Kingsgrove
Kingsgrove is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Kingsgrove is south-west of the Sydney central business district and lies across the Local government in Australia, local government areas of the City of Canterbury-Banksto ...
was quadrupled. Once this was opened, the running patterns of the trains on the lines changed. The flying junction
A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is "gr ...
s interchange near 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 ...
was altered to give the Airport line its own platforms (21 & 23) at Central. Local (all stations) trains generally were timetabled to run from East Hills via the airport, peak hour express trains from Campbelltown run along the original route via 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 un ...
, taking the express tracks between Kingsgrove and Wolli Creek Junction.
History
The line opened on 21 May 2000, three months ahead of the Olympic Games, after the State Government had spent around on the project and the Airport Link Company over . As the stations commenced operation on 21 May 2000, the ownership of the four stations reverts to the state government on 21 May 2030.
Despite the cancellation of the rival Airport Express bus service, taxi surcharges and expensive airport parking, the Airport Link consistently failed to meet patronage targets. Less than a year after the line opened, the State Rail Authority
The State Rail Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of New South Wales from July 1980 until December 2003.
History
The ''Transport Authorities A ...
stated that "patronage has been lower than expected to date", but they remained optimistic, believing "that as airport users become more familiar with this facility and the ingrained habits of many years gradually alter, patronage will continue to increase."
In January 2001, the Airport Link Company went into receivership, exposing the government to costs of around . State Rail blamed "lower than expected patronage" and stated it was working with the company to increase it. Together with the Cross City Tunnel, the Airport Link served to dampen government and business enthusiasm for further public private partnerships in transport in New South Wales.
In October 2005, the Government and the company signed a revised agreement on revenue and patronage, settling the latter's claims against the former. The Government paid to the company, with another due as CityRail
CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by State Rail Authority, the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2004 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle and Wollongong, the ...
earns revenue from Airport Line business.
The Airport Link Company was put up for sale in early 2006, and was purchased by Westpac
Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney.
Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...
. In 2009, the business made a profit of which increased to in 2010. In 2013, Westpac's 49.9% stake was purchased by Universities Superannuation Scheme
The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with £89.6 billion under management as of August 2021 (up from £67 billion in 2019). It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and aca ...
(USS), who then took control of the Airport Link Company.
Station access fees
From opening, all stations on the line charged a station access fee to use the line, as well as the standard fare. In March 2011, it was announced that the NSW Government would cover the cost of the station access fee at Green Square and Mascot stations, meaning that passengers no longer need to pay a surcharge to access these stations. To compensate the Airport Link Company, the Government pays the company a "shadow" station usage fee at a fixed contracted rate of approximately per entry and exit of these stations.
Following the removal of the access fee, patronage at Green Square and Mascot increased by 70 percent between March and June 2011 as a result of the reduced fares. A fee remains in place for the Domestic and International Airport stations. Workers at the airport do not receive a discount on the station access fee, rather, their fares are capped at $21.
By 2018, Green Square and Mascot stations were experiencing overcrowding at peak times due to significant increases in patronage. At Mascot station, passenger numbers increased by 117% between 2015 and 2019, and the station was expanded in 2023 to deal with the increased demand.
The 30-year public–private partnership
A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...
will end on 20 May 2030, at which point the infrastructure will belong to the NSW Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
.
Criticism
From the beginning, a major criticism of the line was that it is not served by dedicated rolling stock. Customers entering the Sydney Airport Line at Domestic and International must compete for space with commuters from the East Hills line particularly in the morning peak citybound, and find that the trains have no special provision for their luggage. Services are provided by Sydney Trains
Sydney Trains is the brand name and operator of Railways in Sydney, suburban and intercity train services in and around Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.
The metropolitan part of the network is a hybrid urban rail, urban-suburban r ...
's K, M, A and B set fleets.
This contrasts with Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
's AirTrain line which is primarily serviced by Queensland Rail's IMU and NGR fleets, both of which make provision for luggage carrying passengers, as well as offering additional passenger comforts such as high backed seats, free Wi-Fi and toilets. Furthermore, the Brisbane line terminates at the airport, bypassing most suburban stations, meaning customers travelling on the AirTrain are not mixed with suburban commuters. While Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
's airport link also shares some of the same issues as Sydney, users of the line are not charged an additional fee to alight at either of the stations servicing Perth's airport.
Although often perceived as all revenue going to the Airport Link Company, under the revenue sharing agreement, 85 percent of revenues raised by the access fee since August 2014 goes to the NSW Government. From 2015 to 2018, the NSW Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
received $197.6 million in total net revenue from the station access fee.
References
External links
{{coord missing, New South Wales
Airport rail links in Australia
Underground commuter rail