Redfern railway station

Redfern railway station is a heritage-listed major suburban railway station located on the Main Suburban line and Eastern Suburbs line, serving the Sydney suburb of Redfern. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 North Shore & Western Line, T2 Leppington & Inner West Line, T3 Liverpool & Inner West Line, T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line, T8 Airport & South Line and T9 Northern Line services, as well as intercity Blue Mountains Line, Central Coast & Newcastle Line and South Coast Line services. It is also served by T7 Olympic Park Line services during special events only. Redfern was designed by John Whitton and built by the Department of Railways. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999, under the name Redfern Railway Station group and Tenterfield railway. History Redfern railway station In the early history of the New South Wales Government Railways, Redfern station was the frequently used but unofficial name of the principal Sydney terminus, a fact which has led to persistent confusion. That station, the first Sydney Terminal, was north of Cleveland Street, which is Redfern's northern boundary, and south of Devonshire Street. It opened on 26 September 1855 in an area known as Cleveland Fields which is now the railway corridor called Sydney Yard. This original 'Redfern' station comprised one wooden platform in a corrugated iron shed, with the station's name honouring William Redfern. The station was built of iron and the first stationmaster was a Mr Fielding. As traffic increased the original station was replaced in 1874 by a brick and stone building containing two platforms. This second station, the second Sydney Terminal which grew to 14 platforms, was designed for through traffic if the lines were extended in the city direction. This second station was found to be too far from the city centre, so a new station (the present Sydney Central station) was built to the north of Devonshire Street and opened on 4 August 1906. The 1874 station was soon demolished. A station was opened in 1876 1.3 kilometres (1 mi) west of the original Redfern and named Eveleigh, after an old home located on the western side of the railway line. In 1885 Eveleigh's platforms were reconstructed at its present site, and was renamed Redfern on 21 October 1906, shortly after the current Central railway station was opened on the site of the former Devonshire Street cemetery. Redfern station had been opened to serve the Eveleigh railway workshops, the first stage of which was completed in 1887, as well as the inner-city residential and industrial suburb of Redfern, one of Sydney's most high-density residential areas. The name Eveleigh was retained for the railway workshops, just beyond the station, on the site of the original Hutchinson Estate, now part of the present suburb of Eveleigh. In 1894 there was a steam train collision at the station that resulted in eleven people being killed and several were injured including John Ralston By the 1940s, three-quarters of Sydney factory workers worked within a three-mile radius of Redfern station, and many commuted to work by train. The original station consisted of three island platforms serving four lines. The ticket office was located on the corner of Lawson Street and Rosehill Street, with stairs down to each individual platform. Rosehill Street was demolished to make way for the later expansion of Redfern station to the east, while the ticket office survived and was later extended. The construction of the Redfern station was overseen by the office of John Whitton, engineer-in-chief of the NSW Railways. Whitton had been appointed in 1856 at the beginning of the NSW railway development and remained in the position until 1890, overseeing the establishment of the main body of the NSW system. The station was extended in 1891/92 to accommodate the quadruplication of the main suburban lines, with new platforms being built during this period (Platforms 5, 6 and 7) and again in 1919 (Platforms 8 and 9) and again in 1924/25 (Platform 10). In 1913 a footbridge was erected at the southern end of the platforms to allow access to the Eveleigh workshops from the station for the workers. The footbridge extended across all the platforms with stairs down to each. On 1 August 1926, a further two platforms opened on the southern side (9 and 10) as part of the electrification of the Illawarra line. Work on underground platforms 11 and 12 began in the 1940s but did not finish until the 1970s when the Eastern Suburbs railway line was opened in 1979. The original plans of The City and Suburban Electric Railways (Amendment) Act of 1947 had included additional railway lines that were never completed, resulting in unfinished platforms and tunnels existing above the current platforms 11 and 12. Until 1994, Redfern had an overhead footbridge at the Eveleigh end of the platforms, connecting platforms 1–10 by stairs. This was demolished because the funds for its maintenance were not available. In c. 1994 the southern footbridge was removed as the Eveleigh railway workshops were gradually closed down and the footbridge was no longer required. In c. 1999, the station underwent a major upgrade including the demolition of the northern footbridge and stairs to the platforms. A new footbridge and stairs were built, with only a pair of iron newel posts on platform 1 remaining of the earlier stairways. A single track tunnel was built for steam locomotives from Central station to access Eveleigh Railway Workshops. Known as the Engine Dive, it dives to the north of Platform 1 surfacing at the southern end of Platform 10. A number of chimneys still exist, especially on Platform 1. The present Redfern station was damaged by fire in the 2004 Redfern riots. The ticketing area and station master's office were significantly damaged - and the windows in the front of the station were bricked up for almost a year afterwards to prevent further attacks. They have since been replaced with glass windows. A rising public concern about the lack of disability access to the station platforms led to a petition of over 50,000 signatures and a debate in State Parliament in 2013. Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian committed funding to provide a lift to one platform only which opened in November 2015 on platform 6 and 7. The Gibbons Street exit closed in 2018 and was replaced by a new entrance on the corner of Gibbons and Lawson Streets in November 2018. In August 2019, further improved accessibility was proposed including a new concourse at the southern end of the station. The Southern Concourse began construction in 2021 and opened in October 2023. The upgrade provided lift access to Platforms 1–10, a new entrance off Little Eveleigh Street and a relocation of the existing Marian Street entrance. To enable construction of the new concourse it was necessary to relocate a heritage listed building, originally built in 1884, on Platform 1. Lift access to platforms 11–12, which are on a diverging, underground alignment, would potentially involve a multi-storey development, is still to be provided. Description Redfern has 12 platforms, ten ground level (linked by stairs to the concourse at Lawson Street), and two underground (linked by stairs and escalators to the concourse at Gibbons Street). The two concourses are linked. Station offices and facilities such as toilets and the main indicator boards are located next to the Lawson Street entry. As part of the construction of the Eastern Suburbs Railway (now platforms 11 and 12), it was proposed to build up to four platforms for the underground route. Two of these platforms were built and now are platforms 11 and 12, however, the two platforms above were half constructed above platforms 11 and 12. These are visible through a small gap in the wall opposite Platform 11, as well as by a boarded up entry portal under the Lawson Street Bridge (which was to be the down track), and a now filled-in dive tunnel under the Wells Street Sectioning Hut on the Central side of Lawson Street. The area in which the platforms were to be situated is visible from the station concourse at the entrance to Platform 10. Services Platforms Transport links Redfern does not have a connecting bus interchange. However, two stops along Gibbon Street close to the Gibbons Street entrance (near platforms 11 and 12) serve the following Transdev John Holland, Transit Systems and two NightRide routes: 305: to Mascot Stamford Hotel 306: to Mascot station 308: Marrickville Metro to Eddy Avenue 309: to Port Botany N11: Cronulla station to Town Hall station N20: Riverwood station to Town Hall station There are stops further afield in Redfern Street servicing bus routes to Railway Square and in Regent Street servicing bus routes to Marrickville, Mascot and Banksmeadow. Heritage listing Redfern Railway Station Group has heritage significance at a state level as a major suburban station which played an important role in the development of the surrounding residential and industrial suburbs. It was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 as "the place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales." The station includes a number of buildings and structures of rare architecture such as the Queen Anne style overhead booking office and the 1884 station building on Platform 1, which was relocated during the construction of the new southern concourse. In popular culture The station appeared in the 2017 film Bad Genius. Gallery See also List of railway stations in Sydney References Bibliography Attraction Homepage (2007). "Redfern Railway Station group". Davis, Paul (1978). A History of NSW Railway Architecture (Thesis: BArch). Gorman, James (6 March 2013). "Sign up to give a lift to Redfern". Sydney Central. Gunn, John (1989). Along Parallel Lines: A History of Railways in NSW 1850-1986. Lee, Robert (1988). The Greatest Public Work: The New South Wales Railways 1848-1889. Murray, Dr. Lisa (2009). Redfern: a hive of industry. National Trust of Australia (NSW) (1993). Redfern Railway Station Group. Attribution This Wikipedia article contains material from Redfern Railway Station group, entry number 1234 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 13 October 2018. External links Redfern station at Transport for New South Wales (Archived 1 May 2020) Redfern Station Public Transport Map Transport for NSW Gallery of unfinished platforms 13 and 14