The Southern Highlands Line (SHL) is an

intercity rail Inter-city rail services are Express train, express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than Commuter rail, commuter or Regional rail, regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance co ...

service that services the Macarthur, Southern Highlands and

Southern Tablelands The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and generally west of the Great Dividing Range. The area is characterised by high, flat country which has generally been extensively cl ...

regions of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. First operating in 1869, the service runs from across the

Main Southern railway line The Main Southern Railway (or Great Southern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West ...

through to , with peak hour services extending the route to . The railway service operates alongside a bus route from to , operating on the route of the Picton – Mittagong loop railway line, and a regional coach service from to on the

South Coast Line The South Coast Line (SCO) is an Regional rail, intercity rail service 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, New South W ...

, operating on the corridor of the

Unanderra–Moss Vale railway line The Unanderra–Moss Vale railway line is a cross country railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line branches from the Illawarra railway line, Illawarra line at Unanderra railway station, Unanderra and winds west up the Illawarra esca ...

. One of only two routes on the NSW TrainLink intercity network to run entirely on non-electrified railway lines, the Southern Highlands Line is operated with a rolling stock solely consisting of Endeavour railcars, with most services only using two cars. The service spans of railway, making it the most extensive route on the NSW TrainLink network apart from the

Blue Mountains Line The Blue Mountains Line (BMT) is an intercity rail service serving the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The line travels west from Sydney to the major town of Katoomba and on to Mount Victoria, Lithgow and Bathurst. M ...

's '' Bathurst Bullet'' service. Despite that, the route spans only 22 stations, making it also the route with the lowest number of stops. An additional 2 stations and of railway are traversed by Southern Highlands trains at peak hours.

History

The

Main South line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the ...

opened in stages to Picton in 1863,

Moss Vale Moss Vale is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Moss Vale is the administrative centre of Wingecarribee Shire local government area. It is located south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. The Illawarra Hi ...

in 1867 and

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

in 1869. In 1919, a new section of line opened between Picton and

Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...

, with the original section becoming the Picton-Mittagong loop line. Originally a single track line, it was later doubled with the exception of the Picton-Mittagong loop line.

Services

Most services operate between Campbelltown and Moss Vale with a limited number extending to Sydney Central and

. All services are operated by NSW TrainLink using Endeavour railcars. Rail replacement bus services operate between Picton and

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and the Southern Highl ...

paralleling the Picton-Mittagong loop line and Bundanoon and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') 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 water' or 'sound ...

paralleling the Moss Vale-Unanderra line. A daytime bus service also operates between Moss Vale and Goulburn. Some stations are also served by NSW TrainLink XPT and Xplorer services from Sydney to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Up until the mid-1990s, most services on the line operated through to Sydney Central. Named trains that operated on the line included the ''Goulburn Day Train'' and '' Southern Highlands Express''. In the late 1980s, air-conditioned HUB/ RUB carriages were introduced. These would later be joined by Budd and Tulloch carriages and DEB railcars. In 1994, all were replaced by Endeavour railcars. Most services were altered to operate only as far north as Campbelltown connecting with

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 ...

electric services to Sydney. As of 2014–15, the Southern Highlands Line experiences significantly worse peak hour on-time running performance than other suburban and intercity lines.

Stations

Patronage

References

External links