The North Shore Line is a part of the metropolitan rail network in Sydney, Australia, operated by CityRail. The North Shore Line extends from Sydney Central station through the western limb of the City Circle, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and along the North Shore area to Hornsby where it joins the Northern Line.

History

The North Shore Line was opened on 1 January 1890 as a single track between Hornsby and St Leonards. The line was extended to the Sydney Harbour foreshore at Milsons Point on 1 May 1893. Transport between this original Milsons Point station and central Sydney was by ferry boat. Most of the North Shore line was duplicated between 1900 and 1909. In 1927 the line was converted to electric operation using a 1500 volt DC, overhead supply.

The construction works for the Sydney Harbour Bridge necessitated truncation of the southern terminus from Milsons Point to Lavender Bay.

When the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 19 March 1932 a new Milsons Point station (on the bridge approach) came into operation and the North Shore Line was extended through it and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to link with the underground lines of central Sydney. The result is that the two ends of the North Shore Line link to the Sydney railway system at Central and Hornsby.

After 1932 the original Lavender Bay station became a storage depot for electric trains, and the line connecting Lavender Bay to the North Shore line was reduced to single track. This line joins the current passenger-carrying North Shore line at Waverton station.

The North Shore Line is now a major commuter artery between the North Shore and central Sydney. In early years, Old Milsons Point, Bay Rd, St Leonards, Chatswood, Lindfield, Gordon, Pymble, Turramurra, Wahroonga and Hornsby stations had goods yards. All but St Leonards, Chatswood and Hornsby yards had disappeared by mid-twentieth century, and the latter three did not survive into the late twentieth century.

The Epping to Chatswood rail link has started operating shuttle services connecting Chatswood station of the North Shore line to Epping station on the main Northern line.

The NSW Government Urban Transport Statement identifies capacity and service improvements for the North Shore Line with plans to add extra tracks between Gordon and Chatswood, and extra platforms at St Leonards by 2017.

North Shore Line Stations

Name of Station	Code	Distance from Central	Opened	TravelPass Zone	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station									Connections
North Shore Line
Central	SBO	0 km	1855	Red	Central, Strawberry Hills, Ultimo, Surry Hills										(peak hours only)
Town Hall	TNH	1.2 km	1932	Red	Sydney CBD, Darling Harbour										(peak hours only)
Wynyard	WYD	2.1 km	1932	Red	Sydney CBD, The Rocks, Millers Point
Milsons Point	MPT	4.4 km	1932	Red	Milsons Point, Kirribilli
North Sydney	NSY	5.1 km	1932	Red	North Sydney, Crows Nest
Waverton	WVT	6.1 km	1893	Red	Waverton, Lavender Bay, North Sydney
Wollstonecraft	WSC	7.2 km	1893	Red	Wollstonecraft, Greenwich
St Leonards	SNL	8.4 km	1890	Red	St Leonards, Gore Hill, Osbourne Park, Greenwich
Artarmon	ATO	10.3 km	1898	Red	Artarmon, Willoughby, Narenburn
Chatswood	CHW	11.7 km	1890	Red	Chatswood										■Epping to Chatswood line
Roseville	RVL	13.3 km	1890	Yellow	Roseville
Lindfield	LDD	14.6 km	1890	Yellow	Lindfield, West Lindfield, East Lindfield
Killara	KLA	15.9 km	1899	Yellow	Killara, East Lindfield
Gordon	GDO	17.1 km	1890	Yellow	Gordon, West Pymble
Pymble	PYB	18.9 km	1890	Yellow	Pymble, West Pymble
Turramurra	TMU	20.8 km	1890	Yellow	Turramurra
Warrawee	WWE	21.9 km	1900	Yellow	Warrawee, Wahroonga
Wahroonga	WHG	22.6 km	1890	Yellow	Wahroonga
Waitara	WTA	24.2 km	1895	Yellow	Waitara
Hornsby	HBY	33.9 km	1886	Pink	Hornsby, Waitara
Asquith	ASQ	35.7 km	1915	Purple	Asquith
Mount Colah	MOC	37.7 km	1887	Purple	Mount Colah
Mount Kuring-gai	MKI	40.7 km	1901	Purple	Mount Kuring-gai
Berowra	BEW	44.7 km	1887	Purple	Berowra
Woy Woy (peak hours only)	WOY	72.6 km	1889	-	Woy Woy
Gosford (peak hours only)	GOS	80.9 km	1887	-	Gosford
Narara (peak hours only)	NRR	84.6 km	1887	-	Narara
Niagara Park (peak hours only)	NIA	86.2 km	1902	-	Niagara Park
Lisarow (peak hours only)	LRW	87.7 km	1887	-	Lisarow
Ourimbah (peak hours only)	OUR	90.6 km	1908	-	Ourimbah
Tuggerah (peak hours only)	TGG	98.5 km	1890	-	Tuggerah, Mardi, Chittaway Point, Kangy Angy
Wyong (peak hours only)	WYG	101.1 km	1887	-	Wyong, Wattanobi

Stopping Patterns

• Pattern 1: all stations to Berowra (& vice-versa)
• Pattern 2: all stations to Hornsby (& vice-versa) *
• Pattern 3: all stations to Gordon (& vice-versa) (peak hours only).*
• Pattern 4: all stations to Gordon, then Hornsby only (peak hours only)
• Pattern 5: intercity limited stops services from Wyong - Tuggerah, Ourimbah, Narara, Gosford, Woy Woy, Berowra, Asquith, Hornsby, Turramurra, (Pymble), Gordon, Chatswood and all to Central (morning peak hours only).
• Pattern 6: intercity limited stops services to Gosford or Wyong - all to Chatswood, Gordon, Pymble, Turramurra, Hornsby, Asquith, Berowra, Woy Woy, Gosford, (all to Wyong) (peak hours only).
• Pattern 7: intercity limited stops services to Wyong - all to Gordon, Hornsby, Woy Woy, Gosford, all to Wyong (evening peak hours only).

* stations marked with mean that a few trains on this pattern in peak hours may skip this station.

The current off-peak service pattern is as follows:

• • 2tph Berowra - Penrith (Western Line)
  • 2tph Hornsby - Richmond (Western Line)

References