Burwood railway station, Sydney

This article is about the Sydney Trains station. For the future Sydney Metro station, see Burwood North railway station.

Burwood
Westbound view from Platform 4, October 2011
General information
Location	Railway Parade, Burwood
Coordinates	33°52′38″S151°06′16″E / 33.87729°S 151.10432°E / -33.87729; 151.10432
Owned by	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Operated by	Sydney Trains
Line(s)	Main Suburban
Distance	10.62 kilometres (6.60 mi) from Central
Platforms	6 (2 side, 2 island)
Tracks	6
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Weekdays: Staffed: 24/7 Weekends and public holidays: Staffed: 24/7
Station code	BWD
Website	Transport for NSW
History
Opened	26 September 1855;169 years ago (1855-09-26)
Rebuilt	13 March 1892
Electrified	Yes
Passengers
2023 [1]	11,211,850 (year) 30,717 (daily) [2] (Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink)
Services
Preceding station Sydney Trains Following station Strathfield One-way operation North Shore & Western Line (one weekday morning peak service) Redfern towards Berowra Strathfield towards Parramatta or Leppington Leppington & Inner West Line Express Ashfield towards City Circle Leppington & Inner West Line Croydon towards City Circle Strathfield towards Liverpool Liverpool & Inner West Line Liverpool & Inner West Line Express (Weekdays only) Ashfield towards City Circle Strathfield towards Hornsby Northern Line Redfern towards Gordon
New South Wales Heritage Register
Official name	Burwood Railway Station group
Type	State heritage (complex / group)
Designated	2 April 1999
Reference no.	1106
Type	Railway Platform/ Station
Category	Transport – Rail

Burwood railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Suburban line in the Sydney suburb of Burwood, New South Wales, Australia. The station is served by Sydney Trains T9 Northern line, T2 Leppington & Inner West Line and T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line services.

History

Sydney Railway Company opened the first railway line to Parramatta in 1855. The original Burwood station was a wooden platform near a level crossing over the grassy track that was Neich's Lane (later Burwood Road). This was beside the newly laid out township of Cheltenham. Access to public transport meant subdivision and consolidation followed, filling in the area between Parramatta Road and the Great Southern Road area which had previously been largely undeveloped woodlands. Burwood's population grew rapidly between 1874 and 1900, rising from 1200 to 7400 respectively, a rate of increase not matched since. ^[3] This was part of a trend that saw Australia's population swell from three to five million between 1889 and 1918. This triggered urgent demand for housing, with Burwood station becoming part of an integrated public transport system of trams, ferries and trams, supporting the development of urban sprawl. ^{[3] [4]}

Railway Station Group

Eastbound view from Platforms 5

The concourse

The original Burwood station opened on 26 September 1855 at a site at ground level on the west side of Burwood Road. ^{[5] [6] [7]} The station was relocated in 1892 to the current location on the east side of Burwood Road and along Railway Parade when the line was quadruplicated. The line through Burwood was sextuplicated in 1922, and a second subway was constructed at the eastern end of the station. ^[8] This subway closed after 1985. ^[3]

In 1869, a post office was situated at the railway station. Postal services were previously conducted through general stores. In 1886, a new building was erected at the railway station (this remains today) and in 1892, the present day Post Office, designed by W. L. Vernon, was opened. ^{[9] [3]}

The surviving building at No. 1 Railway Parade dates from 1886 and was built by the Railway Department fronting the down platform of the then Burwood Station as a Post & Telegraph Office. It survived in its original form until c. 1894, when approximately 3/4 of the structure were removed from the southern side facing Railway Parade. It is the last remaining visible fabric of the second Burwood Railway Station which occupied the site immediately west of Burwood Road from 1878 to 1892. Its location coincides approximately with the site of an earlier station building which was erected in 1862 and demolished in 1878. The building is a rare surviving example of a purpose-built post office dating from the years when this facility was often closely associated with the spread and development of the state's railway network... Documentary evidence (historic measured surveys) show that the present building has a different footprint from that standing in 1890 and 1894. An examination of the fabric of the building provides clues to explaining that discrepancy. The present building was erected in 1886, not c.1880 or 1883 as claimed by others. It was purpose built by the Railway Department as a Post and Telegraph Office. Some time after 1894, the building was adapted for a new use as a Railway Goods Office; it may never have been used as a parcels office, even though it was so-named. The present building, and the associated crane and weighbridge, are considered to have local or possibly regional heritage significance. ^[3]

The four surviving elements in the Burwood Goods Yard – pillar crane, weighbridge, office and platform – are physical reminders of a typical small suburban goods yard at the turn of the 20th century. Few traces of such elements survive at other yards, most if not all of which, such as Petersham and Ashfield, have been closed to goods traffic. ^[3]

The surviving elements have the ability to be used in assisting in the interpretation of the many changes that have taken place to Burwood Railway Station since the opening of the first platform in 1855. ^{[10] [3]}

In April 1988, the goods siding to the south of the station was removed. ^[11]

In 2009–10, the station underwent a significant refurbishment to address high levels of congestion at times of high patronage. Work included an expanded concourse with extra ticket barriers, new toilets and lifts to the platforms. ^[12] The upgrade was completed in mid 2010.

Platforms and services

Platform	Line	Stopping pattern	Notes
1	T9	Peak hour services to Central (i, Platforms 1-12)	[13]
2	T9	Peak hour services to Epping & Hornsby via Strathfield	[13]
3	T9	services to Central & Gordon	[13]
	T1	one early morning weekday service to Berowra via Gordon	[14]
4	T9	services to Epping & Hornsby via Strathfield	[13]
5	T2	services to Central & the City Circle	[15]
	T3	services to Central & the City Circle	[16]
6	T2	services to Homebush, Parramatta & Leppington	[15]
	T3	services to Liverpool via Regents Park	[15]

Description

The complex comprises a brick in subway booking office, completed in 1892; and a brick parcels office that previously served as a railway post office, erected c. 1880. ^{[3] [17]}

Other structures include a brick pedestrian subway and steps; a 5-tonne (6-short-ton; 5-long-ton) jib crane; and a weighbridge, from Goulburn. ^[3]

Transport links

Transit Systems operates 16 bus routes via Burwood station, under contract to Transport for NSW:

• 407: to Strathfield station via Homebush West ^[18]
• 408: to Rookwood ^[19]
• 410: Hurstville to Marsfield via Campsie ^[20]
• 415: Campsie to Chiswick ^[21]
• 418: to Sydenham via Ashfield and Marrickville ^[22]
• 420: Westfield Burwood to Mascot via Sydney Airport. ^[23]
• 458: to Ryde ^[24]
• 461X: to The Domain ^[25]
• 461N: to Hyde Park Night service ^[26]
• 464: Ashfield station to Mortlake ^[27]
• 466: to Cabarita Park ^[28]
• 490: Drummoyne to Hurstville ^[29]
• 492: Drummoyne to Rockdale ^[30]
• 526: to Olympic Park wharf and Rhodes ^[31]
• 530: to Chatswood station via Drummoyne & Lane Cove ^[32]
• M90: to Liverpool station via Bankstown station ^[33]

Burwood station is served by three NightRide routes:

• N50: Liverpool station to Town Hall station ^[34]
• N60: Fairfield station to Town Hall station ^[35]
• N61: Carlingford station to Town Hall station ^[36]

Heritage listing

As at 24 November 2000, Burwood is a major suburban site with some significant structures dating from the 1880 period when the railway crossed Burwood Rd by a level crossing. The small former railway post office is a rare surviving example of this type of structure. The Parcels Office is also of significance because it shows the original earlier platform alignment on which the tracks were located and the changes with the upgrading of the line through that area in 1892. ^[3]

Burwood railway station was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria. ^[3]

The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

This item is assessed as historically rare. This item is assessed as scientifically rare. This item is assessed as arch. rare. This item is assessed as socially rare. ^[3]

See also

• Trains portal

• List of Sydney Trains railway stations

References

1. "Train Station Monthly Usage". Open Data. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
2. This figure is the number of entries and exits of a year combined averaged to a day.
3. "Burwood Railway Station group". New South Wales State Heritage Register . Department of Planning & Environment. H01106. Retrieved 2 June 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence .
4. Fraser, Hugh, in Heritage Council of NSW, 1981-4, amended and added to by Stuart Read, 17/5/2008 with excerpts from Eric Dunlop (1975).
5. Burwood Station NSWrail.net
6. Burwood Railway Parcel's Office & Underbridge NSW Environment & Heritage
7. "125 Years of the Sydney to Parramatta Railway" Preston R.G. NSW Rail Transport Museum ISBN   0-909862-13-3
8. Historical Notes on Main Suburban Line Vol.1 State Rail Authority 1981
9. Stanley et al, 2002
10. Irving & Pratten, 1996, 35, 37-8.
11. "Metropolitan Closures" Railway Digest June 1988 page 228
12. Burwood Station Easy Access upgrade to commence CityRail 4 March 2009
13. "T9: Northern line timetable". Transport for NSW.
14. "T1: North Shore line timetable". Transport for NSW.
15. "T2: Inner West & Leppington line timetable". Transport for NSW.
16. "T3: Bankstown line timetable". Transport for NSW.
17. LEP, HS
18. "Transit Systems route 407". Transport for NSW.
19. "Transit Systems route 408". Transport for NSW.
20. "Transit Systems route 410". Transport for NSW.
21. "Transit Systems route 415". Transport for NSW.
22. "Transit Systems route 418". Transport for NSW.
23. "Transit Systems route 420". Transport for NSW.
24. "Transit Systems route 458". Transport for NSW.
25. "Transit Systems route 461X". Transport for NSW.
26. "Transit Systems route 461N". Transport for NSW.
27. "Transit Systems route 464". Transport for NSW.
28. "Transit Systems route 466". Transport for NSW.
29. "Transit Systems route 490". Transport for NSW.
30. "Transit Systems route 492". Transport for NSW.
31. "Transit Systems route 526". Transport for NSW.
32. "Transit Systems route 530". Transport for NSW.
33. "| transportnsw.info". transportnsw.info. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
34. "| transportnsw.info". transportnsw.info. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
35. "| transportnsw.info". transportnsw.info. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
36. "| transportnsw.info". transportnsw.info. Retrieved 26 April 2024.

Bibliography

• "Burwood Railway Station Group". 2007.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
• Attraction Homepage (2007). "Burwood Railway Station group".
• Dunlop, Eric (1975). Harvest of the years – the history of Burwood, 1874-1975.
• Fraser, Hugh; Clements, Phillip; Powell, Helen; Read, Stuart (1984). Conservation of the Federation House, a series of one-day seminars, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984.
• Irving, Robert; Pratten, Christopher (1996). No.1 Railway Parade, Burwood – the former Burwood Post & Telegraph Office (later Railway Goods Office) Conservation Plan.
• Stanley, Garry; Woods Bagot Architects (2002). Conservation Management Plan: 168A Burwood Rd., Burwood – Post Office.

Attribution

This Wikipedia article contains material from Burwood Railway Station group , entry number 01106 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence , accessed on 2 June 2018.

External links

Media related to Burwood railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Burwood station details Transport for New South Wales
• Burwood Station Public Transport Map Transport for NSW