The Central Coast & Newcastle Line (CCN) is an intercity rail service that services the Hawkesbury River, Central Coast and Newcastle regions. It connects the two largest cities in New South Wales, running from S in Sydney along the Main North railway line to Broadmeadow, and to Newcastle Interchange in Newcastle on the Newcastle railway line.

Description of route

The route traverses the Main West route until Strathfield, where it diverts north and follows the route of the Main North line until Broadmeadow, before diverting east along the route of the Newcastle branch line. The line is electrified at 1500 V DC throughout, and is primarily double track, although there are refuge loops at Hawkesbury River, Gosford, Wyong, Awaba, and Sulphide Junction (between Cockle Creek and Cardiff). Some services terminate at Gosford and Wyong. Services primarily operate to and from Central (Sydney Terminal) via Strathfield. During morning and afternoon peak periods on weekdays, some services will operate in the peak direction from either Wyong or Gosford to Central via the North Shore Line, then continuing on as a T1 service from the Central suburban platforms to Blacktown. Sometimes, when there is trackwork between Strathfield and Hornsby, trains will operate via the North Shore line between Central and Hornsby, then follow the Main North railway line as normal.

History

Prior to electrification of the route, steam hauled passenger trains were varied. From November 1929 until April 1988, the Newcastle Flyer operated on the route. From the time the line was electrified, services to Gosford were hauled by 46 class locomotives, their sphere of operation increasing as the wires were extended. After electrification to Newcastle, services were taken over by U and V sets. Later, the U sets were replaced by K and G sets which, in turn, were replaced by H sets. The last electric locomotives were withdrawn in March 1998 with all services operated by electric multiple unit stock. The section of the Newcastle railway line between Hamilton and Newcastle was closed on 25 December 2014. Until the opening of Newcastle Interchange in 2017, Hamilton served as the temporary northern terminus. The closed section between Wickham and Newcastle was replaced with the Newcastle Light Rail that opened on 17 February 2019.

Services

Most all-stations trains have four carriages, with the first and last car being quiet carriages. Peak-hour and most express services usually have eight cars, with quiet carriages on the first, last, and the two middle carriages. Services via Strathfield depart from Central (Sydney Terminal) and are operated by 4- or 8-car H sets (OSCARs) and 8-car V sets. From 2024, all services are to be taken over by 4- and 6-car D sets. That will allow H sets to be transferred to the suburban Sydney Trains network.

Upgrades

Completed

The line was electrified to Gosford in January 1960, Wyong in April 1982 and Newcastle in June 1984. As part of the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor project the following projects were completed: The projects were:

Proposed

Glendale station

A railway station is proposed to be constructed in Glendale as part of the Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange project. The station will be located between Cockle Creek and Cardiff railway station and will have connections to buses. An extension of Glendale Drive leading to the proposed station has been built and completed in June 2017. However, construction of the station has not commenced.

New Warnervale station

A new station is proposed for Warnervale. The draft Central Coast Transportation Strategy stated that construction of the new railway station was to be completed by 2016. In October 2014 there were some differences between Wyong Council and the State Government over how a strategic piece of land should be developed at Warnervale.

Stations

This table does not include the services which run via the North Shore line and extend to Gosford and Wyong via Gordon.

Patronage