Tuesday 7 February 2006

Minister for Transport, John Watkins, announced yesterday that work had begun on the $98 million Rail Clearways project at Hornsby Station.

Mr Watkins said the project included the construction of a new Platform 5 and train stabling facilities.

“The Hornsby Station project will help to reduce delays on the Newcastle and Central Coast Line and improve service reliability,” Mr Watkins said.

“It will allow intercity and freight trains to pass quickly through the station without causing disruption to suburban services,” he said.

The upgrade is part of the $1.5 billion Rail Clearways program to untangle the CityRail network.

The Hornsby Clearways project includes:

• constructing a new platform and extending the existing concourse at Hornsby Station;
• reconfiguring the bus interchange;
• 1.7 kilometres of new track to separate freight and passenger services; and
• constructing stabling facilities necessary for the introduction of services on the new Epping to Chatswood rail line in 2008.

Hornsby Station is the junction for three major rail lines and is also the second highest source of delay on the network. The works will help ease the local bottleneck and ensure services flow more smoothly through Hornsby, which is good news for customers.

The new platform will provide additional capacity to terminate and start services at Hornsby. It’ll separate Newcastle and Central Coast services and freight trains from terminating suburban services.

The Hornsby Station project will be completed in 2008 to support the introduction of the new timetable and services for the opening of the Epping to Chatswood rail line.