Illawarra Junction

Illawarra Junction
The interior of the closed Illawarra Junction Signal Box, located south of Sydney Central
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Locale	Eveleigh Railway Workshops, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°53′43″S 151°11′26″E / 33.8954°S 151.1906°E / -33.8954; 151.1906
Connecting lines	Illawarra railway line Main Suburban railway line
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Sydney Trains
Operator(s)	Sydney Trains
History
Opened	15 October 1884[1]
Automated signals	1913[2]
Relocation of signal box	1916[1]
Closure of signal box	1979[1]
Technical
Number of tracks	10
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	c. 1925[3]

The Illawarra Junction is a major railway junction located near the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, in Eveleigh, in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This complex junction joins a number of different lines and yards. There are two pairs of tracks (named Illawarra Main and Illawarra Local) from the Illawarra railway line from the south and three pairs of tracks (named Local, Suburban and Main) from the Main Suburban railway line from the west.^[4]

It is likely that the junction opened on 15 October 1884, when the line to Hurstville was opened.^[1] The line was duplicated in 1895, and quadruplicated in 1912, through St Peters and Erskineville stations. The quadruplication involved the relocation of the junction and the construction of a new signal box positioned above the tracks towards Macdonaldtown station, that was opened in 1916.^[1] In 1927, the junction was expanded to accommodate the current ten-track configuration.^[5] The signal box was closed in 1979,^[1] was replaced by the Sydney signal box, and the former signal box subsequently removed.