Sandown railway line


The Sandown Line is a short former industrial railway line in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It began life as the Bennett's Railway, opening on 17 November 1888. The line diverges from the Carlingford line just south of Camellia station. It was electrified in 1959. Part of the line is to be reutilised by light rail.
The line had three simple stations: Sandown, Hardies and Goodyear. The closure of Goodyear station preceded the closure of the remaining two.
When electrified, it carried an electric suburban service to serve the surrounding industrial area. Passenger services for the Abattoirs line were operated by CPH railmotors operating from Sandown via Lidcombe until November 1984.
Passenger service to Sandown ceased on 19 December 1991, while freight service ended in June 2010. The line's racecourse platform at Rosehill continued to be used by special charter trains up to 2019.
The overhead wires were removed in December 2002. Traffic was officially suspended and a Stop Block placed across the tracks on the Sydney side of Access Rd level crossing in October 2016.
The western end of the line will be used by the Parramatta Light Rail project to provide access to a stabling and maintenance facility. This saw the line officially closed which was gazetted for 1 July 2019. The section of the Carlingford line from where the Sandown line diverges to the Parramatta Road level crossing will also be closed. Removal of the line and tracks began in July 2019. The branch is also under consideration for being incorporated into Stage 2 of the Parramatta Light Rail network, connecting Camellia and Olympic Park.