South West Rail Link


 * Not to be confused with: Sydney Metro City & Southwest.

The South West Rail Link is a branch line on the Sydney Trains suburban rail network. Sydney Trains also operated a rail service under the same name between February 2015 and December 2015.

Description
The South West Rail Link starts at Glenfield on the Main South line, with a flyover junction just south of the station onto the South West Rail Link. The line then travels west through the outer fringes of Sydney, with stations at Edmondson Park and Leppington. It continues approximately 2km further to Leppington Yard (also known as Rossmore Yard), which is currently the end of the line.

The line is double track throughout, widening to four tracks at Leppington station. Leppington Yard has ten 16-car roads for train stabling, with a further two shorther, unelectrified sidings for trackwork vehicles. The line is controlled remotely from Sydenham Signalling Centre. As it is an outer suburban line with more distance between stations, track speeds are higher as well, with trains reaching 115km/h between Glenfield and Edmondson Park.

The line was constructed to facilitate future growth in the area. An extension through to the future Western Sydney Airport is being investigated. Land has already been reserved for this purpose.

History
The line was first proposed in 2005, as a part of a larger project, the other elements of which were canceled, but now revived as Sydney Metro. However, the South West Rail Link was not canceled and contruction commenced in 2009. Construction was done in two stages, upgrading Glenfield station first, then constructing the rest of the line. Construction finished in September 2014, with the government announcing that it had finished a year ahead of schedule and $300m under budget. The line opened in February 2015.

Services
Sydney Trains initially created a new rail service to service the line, named the South West Rail Link and coloured pink. This service ran between Liverpool and Leppington, stopping at all stations except Casula. Services were half-hourly and run by 4-car M sets.

In December 2015, the South West Rail Link service was discontinued. Instead, T2 South Line (now renamed T2 Leppington Line) services were extended from Glenfield to Leppington. In 2017, T5 Cumberland Line services were changed to operate to/from Leppington as well.