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St James is an underground railway station on the City Circle line in Sydney. The station is located under the northern end of Hyde Park, and is named after nearby St James' Church. With entrances on Elizabeth Street, St James Road, and in Queens Square, St James Station serves the T2, T3 and T8 lines. Based on 2011 estimates, passengers undertake 2.3 million journeys to or from St James station each year.
History[]
Part of the Bradfield Plan, St James Railway Station was originally intended to be a major interchange with the Eastern Suburbs railway line on Sydney's underground rail system. Plans for the construction of St James included railway lines in four directions, but the original plan was never completed due to disagreements over the routes. Four platforms were completed, but the two inner platforms, intended to support Bradfield's proposed eastern and western suburbs lines, were never put into service. As a result, the two island platforms as built were connected by filling in the track space between the two inner platforms, resulting in the single, large island platform seen today.
The station itself was designed by NSWGA architect George McRae, but not completeted until after his death. An example of Inter-War Stripped Classical architecture influenced by Art Deco, St James Station serves the starting point for the City of Sydney Commerce walking tour. One distinctive feature of the station is a neon sign from the late 1930s advertising Chateau Tanunda Brandy installed by Tucker, Lingard & Co., located at the northern entrance on Elizabeth Street.
Regular service to St James Station began on 20 December 1926 with the opening of the eastern city line. For the first 30 years of its existence, St James Station was used as a terminating station for the Bankstown, East Hills and Illawarra lines. As a terminating station, St James was equipped with a small signal box and two dead end sidings, located in the tunnel stub at the north end of the station. The St James signal box, equipped with pistol grips, was the smallest such box in the state. Trains arriving at St James would disembark passengers on one of the outer platforms, then the train would move to a siding and reverse direction, coming out at the opposite outer platform. During non-peak hours the driver would simply move to the other end of the train while the train was on the siding. During peak hours the train would take on a second driver in the last car while at the platform, then proceed to one of the sidings, where the drivers would exchange control of the train.
Completion of the City Circle loop did not occur until 30 years after St James Station opened for service. Construction of the western city line as far as Wynyard station was completed in 1932, but completion of the line connecting Wynyard station and St James through Circular Quay, begun in 1936, proved problematic. Construction was halted during World War II, and after 1945, construction was intermittent due to inconsistent funding. By 1953 it was determined that work underground could not proceed at Circular Quay due to water entering the tunnels. A section of rail line above ground was constructed, and the City Circle loop was completed in 1956.
Following the completion of the City Circle, most trains travelled through St James without needing to terminate, and the station's terminating facilities were no longer regularly used. The signal box remained in use until 1990 with the occasional train continuing to terminate at St James to keep the terminating tracks usable for emergencies and railway staff familiar with the procedures. In 1985–86, the signal box was taken out of service for an asbestos abatement project. During this period, train cars allocated for the removal of the asbestos would occupy one or the other of the dead end sidings, which meant that regular use of those lines by passenger trains was not possible. After the asbestos abatement project was completed, the signal box was returned to service until 1990, when asbestos was discovered in the signal box and the sidings. From that time the signal box was not used, and the signals and siding tracks were eventually removed. The last train to use these sidings was in 1996.
In 2008, St James was proposed to be the terminal station for the North West Metro project. This plan was scrapped, with the upcoming Sydney Metro Northwest running up to Chatswood.
In 2010, St James received an accessibility upgrade, with lifts installed between the platforms and the concourse and from the concourse to street level.
Underground tunnels[]
St James Station is most notable for the abandoned tunnels connected to the station. The Australian Railway Historical Society, with the approval of the State Rail Authority, has given tours of the tunnels, but many people have visited the tunnels by entering along the subway tracks. The tunnels were constructed as stubs for the planned eastern and western suburbs lines when the station was built in the 1920s. This was to ensure that the operation of St James would not be disrupted if future work was carried out on the lines. The abandoned tunnels extend some distance in either direction from St James. They proceed for some 250 metres north under Macquarie Street to be roughly parallel with the State Library; to the south they extend to Whitlam Square at the intersection of Liverpool and College Streets.
Use as a mushroom farm[]
From 1933 to 1934, the tunnel between St James and Circular Quay was used by Raymond Mas as the location for an experimental mushroom farm, producing 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) of mushrooms per month.
Use during World War II[]
The tunnels originally planned for use as the eastern suburbs line were modified during World War II to serve as a public air raid shelter. The abandoned air raid shelter begins in the double track tunnel section at the north end of St James Station, and continues into the two single track tunnels beyond. At the station end, the air raid shelter is protected by a blast curtain, and the doorways and openings for ventilation between the chambers, each about 30 metres long, are protected by blast curtains
The tunnels were also used during World War II as an operations bunker by the No. 1 Fighter Sector RAAF. The bunker was located in what was intended to be the City Inner Tunnel, access to which was provided by a wooden staircase in a shaft leading upward to Shakespeare Place. WAAAF personnel housed in this operations bunker collected information from radar and weather stations, as well as reports on air traffic, ship and troop movements collected from airports, army and Volunteer Air Observer Corps reporting posts. This section of tunnel was constructed using a cut and cover technique outside of St James Station, and connects to the tunnels in St James through pilot tunnels, accessible via ladder.
As air quality in the tunnel was poor, WAAAF shifts were limited to six hours. Eventually the health of the WAAAF personnel declined due to poor air quality or poor food, so operations were relocated first to The Capital Theatre in Bankstown, and subsequently to the Bankstown Bunker on Black Charlies hill near Condell Park.
The staircase used to access the bunker was destroyed by fire on 16 of November 1968. Smoke from this fire interrupted train service for approximately twelve hours.
There have also been rumors that General MacArthur had a secret bunker facility in one of the tunnels, but these rumors have not been substantiated.
Use in radio, TV, and cinema[]
The tunnels which had been prepared as an air raid shelter were also used by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as a location for one episode of the TV series "Police Rescue" in the early 1990s. In the episode, a boy who had fallen down a storm drain is rescued.
The Platforms have been featured in Zoe Badwi's 2010 music video "Freefallin'"
There is also a large bell in one of the tunnels. According to one source, the ABC used this bell to simulate the sound of Big Ben for use in a TV series during the 1960s, but that information has not been verified. Another source suggests that the bell was installed by Nigel Helyer in 1992 as a work of art. The piece, titled "An UnRequited Place", was part of the Working in Public project created by ArtSpace Sydney, and was a combination of the physical sculpture, performance and audio broadcast. For 21 days the sound of the bell tolling at midnight was broadcast by the ABC.
Platforms in St James Station were also used as a shooting location in 2003 movie The Matrix Revolutions.
In 2008, the station was used as a location for the mini-series False Witness.
2011 horror movie The Tunnel is set in the abandoned tunnels.
Underground lake[]
One of the abandoned tunnels flooded and produced an underground lake, ten metres wide, five metres deep, and one kilometre long. Known as St James Lake, it has been used for many years as a swimming hole. In recent years, due to drought and diminishing water supplies in underground aquifers, there have been a number of proposals for how to use the abandoned tunnels at St James Station and other underground spaces for storage and recycling of water.
In the mid-2000s, Ian Kiernan proposed that an abandoned water tunnel, Busby's Bore, be redirected to St James Lake where water could be stored and recycled. Busby's Bore was originally used to carry water from nearby swamps to the Hyde Park area, but was abandoned for that purpose in the 1890s after becoming contaminated by sewage. In 2004 the idea of recycling the water from the bore received support from the executive director of the Botanical Gardens Trust, Tim Entwisle.
During 2006, it was proposed that the northern unused tunnels be used as a reservoir for irrigation water for The Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens as part of a Clean Up Australia project to create a series of water reclamation and storage facilities. Clean Up Australia partnered with a number of groups in the attempt to move the project forward, and in 2007 Parliament House. obtained funding to proceed. Also in 2007, NSW Premier Morris Iemma announced plans to harvest rainwater at Parliament House. According to this plan all storm water from Parliament House, the State Library of New South Wales and Sydney Hospital (all on Macquarie Street) would be drained into the tunnels, treated, and then pumped back to storage tanks at the surface for use in non-potable water systems, saving an estimated 17 million litres each year.
In interview from January 2008 Transport Minister John Watkins said he intended to ask RailCorp to begin a study to determine if the underground network of tunnels could be used for water storage. The project began on 15 January 2008 when water tanks for storage of the recycled water were installed on the top of Parliament House.
Platforms and Services[]
| Platform | Line | Stopping Pattern | Notes |
 |
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Limited stops to Leppington
All to Homebush All to Parramatta (weekdays only) |
|
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Limited stops to Liverpool | Weekdays only | |
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All to Lidcombe All to Liverpool (weekend only) |
|
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All to Revesby
Express to Macarthur via Airport Express to Campbelltown via Sydenham (peak only) |
Map[]
| T2 Inner West and Leppington Line |
|---|
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City Circle Main Suburban Main South Parramatta Branch South West Fleet |
| T3 Bankstown Line |
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City Circle Redfern to Birrong Lidcombe Branch Liverpool Branch Fleet |
| T8 Airport and South Line |
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City Circle Airport Line East Hills Line Main South Line Illawarra Junction (peak only) Fleet |