I'd like to preface this by saying I have no expectation of any Aussie route entering the franchise. Overview The Sydney Trains T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra line is a heavy suburban/commuter line which doubles as a rapid transit line in places. It is more or less fully self contained, however there are some junctions to connect to the Sydney Metropolitan Freight network and other commuter lines, as well as some South Coast services continuing past the southern terminus at Waterfall. The line is electrified throughout at 1500V DC overhead. Route The route starts in Sydney's expensive and upmarket Eastern Suburbs, at Bondi Junction, in a newish alignment built in the 1980s. As a result this line is mainly built in tunnels or on long viaducts, before diving underground to enter the Sydney Underground. Here the line doubles as a rapid transit line, passing through Martin Place, Town Hall and Sydney Central. South of Central the line joins the South Coast railway, heading down through southeastern Sydney, known as the Illawarra. Here the line acts as suburban rail, with branches to Cronulla, on the south side of Botany Bay and the main part of the line continuing to Waterfall. The Waterfall branch flanks Royal National Park, with some spectacular scenery. Unfortunately, most of the actual coastal railway is too far south, and not much sea can be seen. The Eastern Suburbs line The Illawarra lines Viaducts in the Eastern Suburbs Rolling Stock There are 2 passenger EMUs operating on the line, plus freight which will not be mentioned. Both are double-decker. The first is the Sydney Trains T set Tangara EMU. These trains were first constructed in 1987, and are 4 cars in length (all suburban services operate as 8 car consists) with a top speed of 115km/hr. They are based out of Mortdale depot which can be found on the line. They operate all suburban services and limited intercity sevices. The second is the NSW TrainLink H set OSCar (Outer Suburban Car) EMU. These more modern trains were first built in 2006, and are 4 cars in length and have a top speed of 130km/hr. They are also based at Mortdale depot on the line. They operate intercity services. (Not yet in service) A third is the NSW TrainLink D set Mariyung EMU. These are still in testing and will allow the H sets to be cascaded onto Sydney Suburban services replacing even older stock. They are either 4 or 6 cars in length, allowing the introduction of 10 car intercity services. They have a design speed of 160km/hr however will be limited in service to 130km/hr. They will not be based at Mortdale depot. They will operate intercity services. Services T4 Suburban Services (Bondi Junction- Waterfall/Cronulla) Service patterns are irregular, so check the timetable https://transportnsw.info/documents/timetables/93-T4-Eastern-Suburbs-Illawarra-Line-20210612.pdf Trains run northbound from Cronulla at 4tph. Trains run northbound from Waterfall at 2tph. Trains run northbound from Hurstville at a maximum of 6tph. Some services run from Central to Bondi Junction only. Trains run southbound from Bondi Junction at a maximum of 20tph. These terminate at either Hurstville, Cronulla, Waterfall, Mortdale or continue down the South Coast line. Intercity South Coast line. Trains run either direction from Bondi Junction to Waterfall (and beyond) at a maximum of 4tph. Trains run either direction from Central to Waterfall (and beyond) at a maximum of 2tph. This combines adds to around 20tph in the city area in peak hour, or a train every three minutes. Signalling The line uses tripcock protection like the rest of the Sydney Trains network. This is being replaced by ETCS Level 1 LS. A guide to NSW colour light signalling can be found here Would you buy this route?
A definite buy from me. In terms of Sydney lines, probably second only behind the T8 in terms of preference for me.
Excellent idea and if you are looking for a downloadable content EMU CityRail NSW Train link V Set. On one of those was a 1989 Build 8143 my main complaint with them it's the air conditioning.
V-sets haven't run on the South Coast line since 2012, and they weren't used for the Eastern Suburbs line at all. I'd also feel very uneasy running a Tangara through Waterfall for the first time (granted the accident happened between Waterfall and Helensburgh on the SCO, not T4), as an engineer the Waterfall disaster was often used as a case-study in to the failure of the hierarchy of controls in the safety systems.
But the Tangara Tech Upgrade will fix that! -TfNSW too many years ago to count. I wonder if that will ever happen, seems like if it does Tangaras will only ever operate in 8 car consists again, as only the end cars will receive upgrades eg driving controls, PIS. The middle cars will retain the older controls for shunting though.
Wow! Great suggestion. We all know that DTG is refusing to make a Australian Route because of season changes. Say if it is Winter in the UK, it would be Summer in Australia. Great suggestion
Brilliant formatting on your proposal! I especially like T4 as an option because it is mostly isolated from the rest of the system despite sharing rolling stock. So it can allow for development of a train that then adds more variety if more system integrated routes get made. 3rd thread I'm adding to the list of Australian proposals for T4 but the detail is worth its own thread. Australian proposals list found here: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/australian-proposal-suggestion-master-list.41526/
