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CityRail
Sydney's underground railways do not form a true metro, because they are extensions of suburban main line services and are not a completely segregated system. However, the underground sections, especially the City Circle, show many of the characteristics of a metro, such as very frequent services. In this way Sydney's railways can be considered a hybrid system. The railways are run by CityRail, an agency of the government of New South Wales.
Because the original underground lines were built in conjunction with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a decision was made to have the lines in shallow tunnels so as to minimise the height difference between the underground rails and their extension across the bridge.
1 Underground lines
Sydney has at present three main underground lines; a fourth is currently under construction.
- The second, known as the Eastern Suburbs line was opened in 1979. It runs between Redfern, Central, Town Hall, Martin Place, Kings Cross, Edgecliff and Bondi Junction stations. All these stations are underground, but there are three above-ground sections, two on viaducts and one in a cutting. Most of the platforms at Redfern and Central stations are above ground, including the platforms for the City Circle, but the Eastern Suburbs line is underground. There were plans to extend the Eastern Suburbs line from Bondi Junction to Bondi Beach, but the plans were opposed by Bondi residents, who feared large crowds flocking to Bondi Beach.
- The third underground line is the Airport Line, which opened in the year 2000, prior to the Sydney Olympics. This runs between Central, Green Square, Mascot , Domestic (underneath the Domestic terminal), International (underneath International terminal at Sydney Airport), and Wolli Creek . After Wolli Creek it joins the above ground East Hills line at Turrella .
There are also vague plans for a new underground line to extend from Epping to Castle Hill, and possibly later to the new development underway at Rouse Hill .
