Lidcombe & Bankstown Line

This article is about a future Sydney Trains service. For the current service between Lidcombe and Bankstown, see Bankstown Line. For the physical railway line, see Bankstown railway line.

Lidcombe & Bankstown Line
Overview
Owner	Transport Asset Holding Entity
Locale	Sydney, New South Wales
Termini	Bankstown Lidcombe
Stations	6
Service
Type	Suburban rail
Operator(s)	Sydney Trains
History
Opened	1928 (1928)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Sydney Trains services Metro North West & Bankstown North Shore & Western Leppington & Inner West Liverpool & Inner West Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Cumberland Lidcombe & Bankstown Olympic Park Airport & South Northern

The Lidcombe & Bankstown Line (numbered T6, coloured brown) is a yet-to-commence suburban railway line run on the Sydney Trains network in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was announced on 30 April 2024, a few months prior to the closure of the line previously known as the T3 Bankstown Line to be converted into rapid transit. As of April 2024, services have yet to commence on this line; it is expected that this will happen once the Bankstown Line is closed from mid-2024.

The line runs on the Bankstown railway line between Bankstown and Birrong and on the Main South railway line between Birrong and Lidcombe.

Route

Future shuttle services from late 2024 will run only between Lidcombe and Bankstown

Name	Distance from Central	Opened	Railway line	Serving suburbs	Other lines
Bankstown	18.7 km	1909	Bankstown	Bankstown	M1 (from 2025)
Yagoona	20.6 km	1928		Yagoona	none
Birrong	22.1 km	1928		Birrong
Regents Park	19.9 km	1912	Main South	Regents Park	T3
Berala	18.4 km	1912		Berala
Lidcombe	16.6 km	1858		Lidcombe	T1 T2 T3 T7

Criticism

The Lidcombe & Bankstown Line was created as a direct result of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project with the section of the existing Bankstown Line east of Bankstown being converted into rapid transit. In 2020, the NSW Government released a report for options for the stations west of Bankstown. Among the three options included, one included two shuttle services between Bankstown to Lidcombe and Liverpool; the second included a shuttle between Lidcombe and Bankstown, with stations north and west (and including) of Sefton to receive direct trains to the City Circle; the third included a shuttle between Bankstown and Liverpool, with direct trains to the City Circle via Regents Park from Bankstown. The second option was ultimately favoured to minimise the impact on the rest of the network.

However, as a result of this, Birrong and Yagoona will lose their direct access to trains to Sydney CBD, a point which has particularly concerned advocacy groups against the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project, including Restore Inner West Line and Save T3 Bankstown Line, with the former proposing lower fares at Birrong, Yagoona and Olympic Park.

It is also noted the NSW Future Transport Strategy 2056 does not include Lidcombe & Bankstown Line, but instead proposes a new Parramatta to Kogarah line including a new corridor between Chester Hill and Bankstown bypassing Birrong and Yagoona station.