Woollahra railway station
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Woollahra
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| Coordinates | 33°53′07″S 151°14′35″E / 33.88535°S 151.24294°ECoordinates: 33°53′07″S 151°14′35″E / 33.88535°S 151.24294°E |
| Line(s) | Eastern Suburbs |
| Platforms | 2 |
| Tracks | 2 |
| Other information | |
| Status | Incomplete |
| History | |
| Opened | Not completed |
| Closed | Not completed |
Woollahra railway station was a proposed railway station on Sydney's Eastern Suburbs line. Named after the suburb it was located in, Woollahra railway station would have been built between the present stations of Edgecliff and Bondi Junction. The proposed site of the station currently exists as a cutting off Edgecliff Road. Had this station been completed, it would have been the only above-ground station on the line. Opposition from local residents and costs associated with the construction of the Eastern Suburbs railway prevented the station from being opened.
When the Eastern Suburbs Line was under construction in the 1960s and 1970s, the plan was to locate a station in a closed off grass cutting backing onto the backyards of properties on four surrounding streets. It is believed that the cutting had, for many years, been owned and preserved by the then NSW Department of Railways, as a future potential railway site. Local residents, unaware of this, would use the pleasant but enclosed grassy cutting as a hidden local park. The area, being surrounded by the high rocky escarpment that is Edgecliff Road, Woollahra, contained many trees and was a sanctuary for bird life.
The local residents, appalled to learn in the 1960s that the cutting would become a heavy railway station - to boot, the only above ground station on the line - lobbied the Government of New South Wales vigorously to oppose the station. In the meantime, construction work on the Eastern Suburbs line was slowing down due to various factors including the cost blow-outs of the project. With the Edgecliff railway station buildings and tunnels built by 1969, and the line all the way to Bondi Junction railway station not opening until 1979, this gave the residents of Woollahra plenty of time to organise their opposition to the station.
Notwithstanding the fact that, at the time, the station may have had low patronage, the local community took the NSW Government all the way to the High Court of Australia to oppose the opening of the station, an action that was lost. Despite construction work taking place, and the basic station infrastructure being constructed, community angst as well as the cost factors surrounding the project, eventually led the Government to abandon the idea of placing a functioning station there. Furthermore, the Government and Railways Department, now RailCorp taking into account the fact that the rail lines are within around five metres of suburban backyards, then went as far as to install silencing structures around the tracks. These concrete and steel silencers in fact created what is the quietest section of railway track in Australia, with trains gliding on by day and night, emitting only an eerie low hum as they pass through the cutting.
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