Epping to Chatswood railway line

Epping to Chatswood rail link
New South Wales metropolitan rail area, with Epping to Chatswood rail link highlighted in yellow
Overview
Type	Commuter rail line
System	Sydney Trains network
Status	Active
Locale	Sydney, Australia
Stations	5
Operation
Owner	RailCorp
Operator(s)	Sydney Trains
Rolling stock	T, H, A and K sets
Events
2009	Line opening
2018	Sydney Trains operates Chatswood-Epping section for the last time, conversion into rapid transit begins
2019	Chatswood-Epping section reopens along with North West Line
Technical
Line length	13 km (8.1 mi)

The Epping to Chatswood rail link (ECRL) (originally a part of the Parramatta Rail Link (PRL)) is a railway line in the northern suburbs of Sydney, Australia, which connects the suburb of Epping on the Northern line to the suburb of Chatswood on the North Shore line.

The 13 km line is completely underground and includes three new intermediate stations: North Ryde (known as Delhi Road during much of the planning process),Macquarie Park and Macquarie University. The junction stations at Epping and Chatswood both underwent major redevelopments to incorporate the new link.

There have been proposals for a railway between Sydney's North Shore and the Main Northern Line since September 1920, when John Bradfield's plans were put forward for a railway between St Leonards and Eastwood. The proposed route was via the present Parklands Avenue in Lane Cove to the head of Burns Bay, across the Lane Cove River near the present-day public school at North Ryde, and terminated about 20 chains (400 m) north of Eastwood Station. After political moves, and potential engineering difficulties with hills south of Eastwood station in the 1930s, the terminus was changed to Epping, where the line became known as the "Epping-St Leonards Railway". To this end, the State Government resumed several of the estate houses in Epping around the present-day Brigg and Albuera Roads for a track to loop the line into the main line and terminate the trains at Epping. When voters in neighbouring Eastwood then complained, the line was proposed to link south of Eastwood, use island platforms at Eastwood and then link to Epping.