CityRail operated eleven suburban lines, four intercity services, one regional service, and five connecting bus services, plus a late night bus service across metropolitan Sydney.
Suburban lines :*In peak hour on the North Shore Line, some outer-suburban services run to
Gosford and
Wyong, and some Western Line services extended to
Springwood. :*Inbound Inner West and South services generally travelled around the City Circle in the clockwise direction. Inbound Airport & East Hills and Bankstown services generally travelled around the City Circle in the anti-clockwise direction. • Central (i) is a standard abbreviation used on timetables and station screens. It signifies Central's country and intercity platforms [formerly platforms 1–15, now 1–12].
Intercity lines : Some peak services on the Blue Mountains Line ran to and from
Hornsby : Some peak services and most weekend services on the South Coast Line ran to and from
Bondi Junction : Some peak services on the Southern Highlands Line to/from Central. At other times, a change of train was required at
Campbelltown or
Macarthur Regional line Bus services CityRail operated several bus routes along corridors where the railway line has been closed to passengers or as a supplement to rail services. These bus services appeared in CityRail timetables and accepted CityRail tickets, but were operated by private sector bus companies contracted by CityRail. Two were
CountryLink services that carried CityRail passengers. :
CountryLink services, seat reservations required
NightRide To provide a passenger service between midnight and 05:00 while leaving the tracks clear of trains for maintenance work, parallel bus services were established in 1989.
NightRide services operated typically at hourly intervals (some routes depart more frequently on weekends). NightRide services were run by private bus operators, and identified by route numbers beginning with "N". All valid CityRail tickets for a destination (apart from single tickets) were accepted on NightRide services.
Network overview , the main station on the CityRail network that opened in its present location in 1906 Most Intercity trains terminated at
Central while most suburban (except Carlingford Line) services proceeded through the city. CityRail also operated several Intercity services that terminate at Central station (though some services operated in the metro-style portions of the system in the peak hours). These lines stretched over 200 kilometres from Sydney, as far north as
Newcastle, as far west as
Bathurst, as far south-west as
Goulburn and as far south as
Kiama and
Port Kembla. Southern Highlands trains required a connection at Campbelltown as they ran into the city during peak hours only. Regional services operated from the terminus station at
Newcastle, with local electric services to the
Central Coast and diesel services to
Telarah with some extending to
Dungog and
Scone. Diesel services also operated on the South Coast Line between
Kiama and
Bomaderry. The hub of the CityRail system was
Central station, where most lines started and ended. Trains coming from the Airport & East Hills Line and Bankstown Line, after travelling anti-clockwise on the
City Circle, sometimes terminated upon arrival at Central and proceeded to the
Macdonaldtown turnback. However, most trains continued on and become outward bound Inner West Line and South Line services. The reverse applied for trains coming from the Inner West and South lines, which, if not terminating, became outward bound trains on the Airport & East Hills and Bankstown lines respectively. In the same manner, all trains from the Western Line and Northern Line became North Shore Line trains once they reached Central. As well as the Intercity services mentioned above, local services also ran in the
Newcastle local area during off-peak times, as part of the Newcastle & Central Coast Line. Local services also ran on the South Coast Line in the
Wollongong local area, usually between
Thirroul and
Port Kembla.
Passenger information systems Many CityRail stations were equipped with electronic passenger destination indicator boards. These provided information on the current time, next three available services, time due to arrival, destination route and the number of train carriages available. {{Listen Due to the many differing types of stations that CityRail serves, their screens varied in form. In station where trains arrived at a higher frequency, 2 or more vertical LED screens were used on each platform to display the destination and arrival time whereas in low frequency areas 1 or 2 dual horizontal LED screens with a larger font were used. Manual destination indicator boards were still used at some lower patronage stations. In regional areas, a station relied on digital voice announcement for information on services. CBSM (Custom Built Sheet Metal) was responsible for the manufacture of many indicator board encasings. ==Challenges==