Thirroul railway station

Thirroul railway station is a station located on the Illawara railway line. The station consists of 3 platforms. Access to the station is provided from Railway Parade.

History
Thirroul was opened on 21 June 1887 as Robbinsville. The Illawara line was only single track at this point, so the only platform was the one that is now numbered 2. A goods siding was added and the station was renamed Thirroul in 1891. A crossing loop was opened in 1912 and a platform on this loop (which became the up line when the line was duplicated) was opened in 1915. The yard to the north of the station opened in 1917. The back platform was opened in 1938 to ensure terminating trains didn't block the increasingly busy main line.

Eight trains passed red signals at Thirroul between 1994 and 2006, with 3 of these derailing at the catchpoints at both ends of the back platform. Most of these were caused by the train skidding on a build-up of rust, water and salt (the station is near the coast) in wet weather conditions. This was exacerbated by the brake design of Tangaras, which are known to handle worse in rain.

Configuration
Thirroul has four loop lines on the up side of the main line and one loop line on the down side. It has two platforms on the main line and one back platform used for terminating trains. There are crossovers on both sides of the station to allow trains from either direction to terminate.

Services
The station is served by South Coast Line trains, usually with a train every 30 minutes for most of the day. Both express and local trains stop at the station. Thirroul is the terminus for local trains on weekends.