North Sydney railway station

North Sydney railway station is located on the North Shore line, serving the Sydney suburb of North Sydney. It is served by Sydney Trains' T1 North Shore and T9 Northern Lines. From September 2005 to May 2006 it was the major terminus of the Hornsby via Strathfield line. From 2013 it is the major terminus for Emu Plains services.

History
North Sydney station opened on 20 March 1932 at the same time as the North Shore line over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Prior to the bridge's opening, North Shore line trains had diverged from the current line at Waverton to the original Milsons Point station at Lavender Bay.

The station was built in a rock cutting with a street level overhead concourse above the platforms. The station has four platforms which correspond with the four railway tracks that were designed to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At the Waverton end of the station there are four tunnels which have been cut into the rock. Unused tunnel stubs of 260 metres for proposed lines to Newport and Northbridge were cut at the same time with Chief Design Engineer John Bradfield calculating that without these, later construction of these lines would interfere with the North Shore line.

From 1932 until 1958, two of the rail tracks designed for the bridge were used by trams, the latter being diverted onto Blue Street just before they would have entered North Sydney Station. After 1958 the tram tracks were removed from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and replaced by the Cahill Expressway.

Beginning in the 1968 when the North Sydney Travelodge was built, the air rights over the station have progressively been redeveloped. In December 1972, the awning over platforms 3 and 4 was demolished. The station became totally enclosed with the opening of Zurich Insurance House in 1984.

Upgrade
Between April 2006 and December 2008, the station was upgraded to handle extra traffic expected with the opening of the Epping to Chatswood line in 2009. The work included an expanded concourse and the installation of escalators and lifts.

Proposal is also underway for construction of a direct corridor to Sydney Metro's upcoming Victoria Cross station, to allow easy interchange with Sydney Metro and Sydney Trains.

Platforms and services
The station has 4 platforms, with 1 and 4 being regularly used for through services. The station also has significant capacity for terminating services, which is now largely unused. Platforms 2 and 3 can be used to terminate northbound trains, whereas platforms 1 and 2 can be used by terminating southbound trains. North Sydney serves as the main terminus for T1 Western Line services from Richmond on weekends and late nights.

The line north through the tunnel from Platform 3 was not laid until 1992 and commissioned in August 1993. The tunnel roads serving platforms 2 and 3 both have a 10 km/h speed limit and are occasionally used by passenger services.

This spare terminating capacity is regularly used during trackwork. T2 and T4 can be diverted to North Sydney if the Eastern Suburbs Railway or City Circle are closed for trackwork. Some southbound trains also terminate here when the Western line is closed for trackwork as Wynyard does not have sufficient capacity.