Liverpool & Inner West Line

This article is about the service to Liverpool via Regents Park. For the service to Leppington via Granville, see Leppington & Inner West Line.

Liverpool & Inner West Line
B sets passing at Summer Hill.
Overview
Service type	Commuter rail service
Status	Operational
Locale	Sydney, New South Wales
Predecessor	Inner West (1999–2013) Bankstown (2013–2024)
First service	30 September 2024; 3 months ago (2024-09-30)
Current operator(s)	Sydney Trains
Route
Termini	City Circle Liverpool
Stops	30
Average journey time	1 hour
Line(s) used	City Circle Main Suburban Main Southern
On-board services
Disabled access	Yes
Technical
Rolling stock	K, M, A and B sets
Track gauge	Standard gauge
Electrification	1,500 V DC from overhead catenary[1]
Track owner(s)	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Timetable number(s)	T3
Sydney rail services Metro North West & Bankstown North Shore & Western Leppington & Inner West Liverpool & Inner West Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Cumberland Lidcombe & Bankstown Olympic Park Airport & South Northern v t e

The Liverpool & Inner West Line (numbered T3, coloured orange) is a commuter rail service operated by Sydney Trains in the Inner West and Western suburbs of Sydney. It operates from the City Circle to Liverpool via the Main Suburban railway line to Lidcombe and the Main Southern railway line from there to Liverpool.

History

Early history

The section of the Main Suburban railway line used by Liverpool & Inner West Line services is the oldest railway in New South Wales, having opened in 1855. The section of the Main Southern railway line from Lidcombe to Cabramatta via Regents Park that it also uses is newer, having opened between 1912 and 1924 as deviation to provide a more direct route to Liverpool.[2][3] Electrification to Liverpool was completed by 1929, after which electric passenger suburban services began operating the same route from Liverpool to the City Circle via Regents Park as they do today.

T3 Bankstown Line (2013–2024)

Further information: Bankstown railway line § Historic services

Following the 2011 state election, the newly elected O'Farrell government embarked on reform of transport in New South Wales, creating a new organisation, Transport for NSW, in November of that year. This was followed up with another government reform, which saw Sydney Trains take over operation of the Sydney suburban rail network from CityRail in July 2013.[4]

Transport for NSW developed a new rail timetable, which was put into effect on 20 October 2013.[5] The 2013 timetable was designed to integrate the projects of the Rail Clearways Program, a 2004 plan to divide the network's fourteen metropolitan rail lines into five independent "clearways" by installing extra tracks, passing loops, turnouts and turnbacks at pinch points around the network, such as at Homebush and Lidcombe. By 2013, the Rail Clearways Program was substantially complete.[6]

The 2013 timetable saw services from Liverpool to the City Circle via Regents Park, which had previously been operated by CityRail under the name Inner West Line, phased out. Instead, from 2013 stations on the Main Southern railway line between Lidcombe and Cabramatta were only serviced by the T3 Bankstown Line, a Sydney Trains continuation of earlier CityRail services on the Bankstown railway line. This service operated as two branches, one from Liverpool and one from Lidcombe, connecting to the City Circle via Bankstown and Sydenham instead of via the Main Suburban railway line. This configuration utilised the new turnback at Lidcombe, and reduced bottlenecking on the Main Suburban railway line. However, the changes attracted criticism due to the increased number of interchanges and increased travel time for passengers from stations west of Bankstown.[7][8][9]

T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line (from 2024)

From 30 September 2024, a new Sydney Trains timetable was introduced which restored services from Liverpool to the City Circle via Regents Park and the Main Suburban railway line, branded as the T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line.[10][11] This coincided with the partial closure of the Bankstown railway line between Bankstown and Sydenham for its conversion as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project.[12] The restoration of this service was informed by community consultation undertaken by Transport for NSW in 2020, in which 85% of respondents favoured the option of restoring services from Liverpool to the City Circle via Regents Park.[13]

Operation

Route

T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line
km continues as 5.0 Museum 4.4 St James 3.0 Circular Quay 2.0 Wynyard 1.2 Town Hall 0.0 Central 1.3 Redfern 2.5 Macdonaldtown 3.1 Newtown 4.7 Stanmore 5.5 Petersham 6.2 Lewisham 7.0 Summer Hill 8.4 Ashfield 9.4 Croydon 10.6 Burwood 11.8 Strathfield 12.7 Homebush 14.3 Flemington 16.6 Lidcombe 18.4 Berala 19.9 Regents Park 21.2 Sefton 22.3 Chester Hill 23.7 Leightonfield 24.5 Villawood 25.9 Carramar 32.0 Cabramatta 34.2 Warwick Farm 35.7 Liverpool
This diagram: view talk edit

T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line services begin in the Sydney CBD on the City Circle. After leaving Central, T3 services use the Main Suburban railway line to travel through the Inner West. At Lidcombe T3 services branch off from the Main Suburban, and use the Main Southern railway line via Regents Park to complete their journey to Liverpool.

T3 stations

Name	Distance from Central [14][15][3][16]	Opened [14][15][3]	Railway line	Serving suburbs	Other suburban lines
Museum – Liverpool
Museum	5 km (dist via Town Hall)	1926	City Circle	Sydney	T2 T8
St James	4.3 km (dist via Town Hall)	1926		Sydney
Circular Quay	3.0 km	1956		Circular Quay, Sydney The Rocks, Millers Point
Wynyard	2.1 km	1932		Sydney, The Rocks, Millers Point	T1 T2 T8 T9
Town Hall	1.2 km	1932		Sydney, Darling Harbour	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9
Central	0 km	1906		Central, Strawberry Hills Ultimo, Surrey Hills	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9 M1
Redfern	1.3 km	1906	Main Suburban	Redfern, Waterloo, Darlington The University of Sydney	T1 T2 T4 T8 T9
Macdonaldtown	2.5 km	1892		Macdonaldtown	T2
Newtown	3.1 km	1855		Newtown
Stanmore	4.7 km	1878		Stanmore
Petersham	5.5 km	1857		Petersham
Lewisham	6.3 km	1886		Lewisham
Summer Hill	7.0 km	1879		Summer Hill
Ashfield	8.4 km	1855		Ashfield
Croydon	9.4 km	1875		Croydon
Burwood	10.6 km	1855		Burwood	T2 T9
Strathfield	11.8 km	1876		Strathfield	T1 T2 T9
Homebush	12.7 km	1855		Homebush	T2
Flemington	14.3 km	1855		Homebush West
Lidcombe	16.6 km	1858		Lidcombe	T1 T2 T6 T7
Berala	18.4 km	1912	Main Southern	Berala	T6
Regents Park	19.9 km	1912		Regents Park
Sefton	21.2 km	1924		Sefton	none
Chester Hill	22.3 km	1924		Chester Hill
Leightonfield	23.7 km	1942		Villawood
Villawood	24.5 km	1924		Villawood
Carramar	25.9 km	1924		Carramar
Cabramatta	28.4 km	1870		Cabramatta	T2 T5
Warwick Farm	34.2 km	1889		Warwick Farm
Liverpool	35.7 km	1856		Liverpool

Diagram of the T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line

Patronage

The following table shows the patronage of Sydney Trains network for the year ending 30 June 2024.

2023–24 Sydney Trains patronage by line[n.b. 1] [17]

T1	86,736,689
T2	47,048,199
T3	20,178,194	[n.b. 2]
T4	54,802,802
T5	8,028,853
T6	–	[n.b. 3]
T7	1,345,017
T8	37,691,564
T9	22,303,028

1. Figures based on Opal tap on and tap off data
2. T3 patronage from former route via Bankstown.
3. T6 services commenced on 19 October 2024.

See also

• Leppington & Inner West Line

References

1. Asset Standards Authority (19 March 2014). RailCorp electrical system general description, version 1.0 (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
2. "Opening of the Regents Park line, Cabramatta Railway Station". Fairfield City Heritage Collection. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
3. "NSW Rail.net Lidcombe-Cabramatta line". Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
4. Saulwick, Jacob (1 July 2013). "All change as RailCorp is disbanded". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
5. Transport for NSW (18 July 2017). "October 2013 timetable changes". NSW Government. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
6. Transport for NSW (15 August 2014). "Rail Clearways Program – completed projects". NSW Government. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
7. Saulwick, Jacob; Carroll, Lucy; Bodkin, Ed (21 October 2013). "New train timetable had a smooth start but not all commuters are happy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
8. Khalil, Shireen (14 January 2015). "Roydon Ng isn't giving up on his year-long campaign to restore the Inner West line". Inner West Courier. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015.
9. Beech, James (30 March 2015). "NSW Election 2015: Tania Mihailuk saves Bankstown for Labor and vows to fight state privatisation". Canterbury-Bankstown Express. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
10. Transport for NSW. "Southwest Link". transportnsw.info. NSW Government. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
11. Transport for NSW (October 2024). "Train and bus timetable changes FAQs: 2024 train and bus timetable" (PDF). NSW Government. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
12. Hathaway-Wilson, Joseph (27 September 2024). "What you need to know about the T3 Sydenham to Bankstown train stations closure". ABC News. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
13. Transport for NSW (December 2020). "West of Bankstown rail services in 2024". NSW Government. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
14. "Main South line". NSW Rail.net. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
15. "NSW Rail.net City Circle". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
16. "Driver Route Knowledge Diagrams - City Circle" (PDF). Railsafe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
17. "Train Patronage – Monthly Figures". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 30 October 2024.