Northern Sydney Freight Corridor

Northern Sydney Freight Corridor
New South Wales Metropolitan Rail Area with two Northern Sydney Freight Corridor projects highlighted with black dotted lines

The Northern Sydney Freight Corridor (NSFC) was a project to improve access between Sydney and Newcastle for freight trains. Frequent passenger services operate on the Main Northern line between Strathfield and Broadmeadow. These passenger services take priority, meaning freight trains can be delayed and are subject to a curfew during peak hours. The Northern Sydney Freight Corridor aimed to reduce delays and increase capacity by providing additional train paths. The delivery of the NSFC projects was managed by Transport for New South Wales, with the exception of the Hexham freight loop which was delivered in June 2012 by the Australian Rail Track Corporation. The final stage was completed in June 2016.

In addition to the two main tracks, there is an extra Down (northbound) line from North Strathfield to Rhodes and a disused extra Up (southbound) track from Concord West to North Strathfield. Between West Ryde and Epping there is a quadruplicated section of track. Between Pennant Hills and Thornleigh there are two loops, but these are too short to accommodate 1,500 metre trains.

As part of the Rail Clearways Program in August 2006 an additional platform was opened at Berowra, and in March 2009 an additional platform and passing loop was opened at Hornsby. These allow overtaking of terminating suburban trains. There are also refuges at Cowan and Broadmeadow capable of accommodating 1,500 metre trains. There are shorter loops at Hawkesbury River, Gosford, Morisset and Awaba but these are not capable of accommodating the longer freight trains.