T2 Inner West and Leppington line

The Inner West and Leppington Line is a grouping of services run by Sydney Trains on their suburban network. On maps and platforms it also referred to by the code.

Constituent Railway Lines
Trains running on the T2 traverse a number of different physical rail lines.

City Circle
The City Circle is a mostly underground loop line running underneath Sydney's City Centre. It starts and ends at Central station. The line is double track, with the inner track used by anti-clockwise trains and the outer track used by clockwise trains.

Main Suburban Line
The Main Suburban railway line is the technical name for the trunk railway line between Redfern (Illawara Junction) and Granville.

This section of railway line is Sydney's oldest, opening in 1855. The line was quadruplicated to Flemington in 1892 and subsequently (date unknown) to Parramatta. The line saw its most dramatic change in the period 1926-1927, when the section from Redfern to Homebush was expanded from four to six tracks by the addition of two tracks initially intended for non-electric express trains. The three pairs of tracks are known as Main, Suburban and Local. The Local ends at Homebush. All T2 trains use the Local pair of tracks east of Homebush and the Surburban west of Homebush.

Prior to 1926, all stations on the line had platform faces to all four tracks. After the completion of works in 1927, all stations between Ashfield and Redfern only had platforms on the local tracks. The Local and Suburban tracks were electrified in 1928. It was not until 1955 that the Main tracks were also electrified to coincide with the opening of the Blue Mountains electrification program.

Old Main South Line
The Old Main South Line is a branch line that runs between Granville and Cabramatta. At Granville, trains can join the Old Main South from both directions on the Main Suburban, via a junction known as the Cumberland Y-Link. The line then runs through several stations and a freight yard in the Cumberland region of Sydney. It ends at Cabramatta, where the line merges into the Main South line. The line is entirely double track.

The Old Main South opened as part of the Main South line on 26 September 1856. It became the Old Main South on 19 May 1924, when a new, more direct route for the Main South via Regents Park was completed.

Main South Line
The Main South line is a major railway line stretching from Lidcombe all the way to the Victorian border. It starts at Lidcombe with a triangle junction with the Main Suburban line. It then runs south through Berala and Regents Park stations before reaching Sefton Park Junction, where the line turns to the west. This is another triangle junction where trains from the Bankstown line can join the Main South Line in both directions. It then passes through a couple more stations before reaching the junction with the Old Main South at Cabramatta, where the line once again turns south. It then reaches Liverpool, where there is a small stabling yard. Further south is Glenfield, where there are junctions to the north and south of the station to the East Hills line and South West rail link respectively.

South West Rail Link
The South West Rail Link opened in 2015 and runs between Glenfield and Leppington. It runs through the outer south-western suburbs of Sydney and may be extended in the future to Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

Inner West line
The Inner West Line is one of the services that forms part of the T2 grouping, running between the City Circle and Parramatta.

Inner West trains start on the City Circle inner track, continuing off another line (either the T3 or T8). Trains to the City use the outer track and continue onto another line (again T3 or T8). After the City Circle, Inner West trains use the Main Suburban line, stopping all stations (except for some peak services). The following termini are used: Historically, the Inner West line was a lot longer. All services continued past Homebush to Lidcombe, where they joined the Main South line. They would then either stop all stations to Liverpool or return to the City as a Bankstown line service. This was stopped by the Rail Clearways project, which aimed to reduce flow-on delays by minimising the number of times trains switched lines. This change was strongly opposed by several groups, as certain routes (e.g. Sefton to Homebush) would now require up to 4 interchanges, whereas there was a direct service before, however the change was not overturned.

There are currently 3 weekday trains which follow the old Inner West line, running between the City and Liverpool via Regents Park. They appear on timetables and indicator boards as T3 services. This pattern may be restored when Sydney Metro City & Southwest opens.

Leppington Line
The Leppington Line runs between the City Circle and Leppington.

The Leppington Line follows the same path as Inner West trains to Homebush. The only difference is that Leppington Line tracks make limited stops between Redfern and Flemington. The usual off-peak stopping pattern is Redfern, Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood, Strathfield, Flemington. Peak hour trains make more stops as they share the same tracks as all stops Inner West trains and at higher frequencies they will catch up to them easily. Leppington line trains run at 4tph during the offpeak and 8tph during the peak.

After Flemington, trains make all stops to Granville, except Clyde on weekends, via the Main Suburban line. At Granville, they turn onto the Old Main South and follow it onto the Main South until Glenfield, again making all stops along the way. They then turn onto the South West Rail Link and stop at Edmondson Park before terminating at Leppington.

The Leppington Line has not experienced many signficant changes over the years. It originally ran between Macarthur/Campbelltown/Glenfield and the City, being diverted to Leppington in 2016 following the opening of the South West Rail Link. It has also had some minor stopping pattern changes over the years (e.g. Burwood and Newtown were added in the last few years).

When the South West Rail Link is closed for trackwork, Leppington services divert to Campbelltown and/or Macarthur to terminate.

Fleet
As with all other Sector 2 lines, the entire Sydney Trains suburban fleet operates on T2 services, including one Tangara set on weekends.