Oak Flats railway station

Oak Flats
NSW TrainLink intercity train station
← Albion Park · Shellharbour Junction →
Oak Flats Station
Location Stanford Drive, Oak Flats
New South Wales
Australia
Coordinates 34°34′19″S 150°49′13″E / 34.571982°S 150.820323°E / -34.571982; 150.820323Coordinates: 34°34′19″S 150°49′13″E / 34.571982°S 150.820323°E / -34.571982; 150.820323
Owned by RailCorp
Operated by NSW TrainLink
Line(s) South Coast
Distance 105.522 km from Central[1]
Platforms 1 (200 metres)[1]
Train operators NSW TrainLink
Bus operators Premier Illawarra
Construction
Structure type At-grade
Parking 380 spaces[2]
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Website Sydney Trains
History
Opened 1925[3]
Rebuilt 21 February 2003
Electrified 17 November 2001[4]
Traffic
Passengers (2014) 181,617[5]
Rank 200th of 307[6]

Oak Flats is a single-platform intercity train station located in Oak Flats, New South Wales, Australia, on the South Coast railway line. The station serves NSW TrainLink trains travelling south to Kiama and north to Wollongong and Sydney.[7] Premier Illawarra operates connecting bus services from the station to Albion Park, Shellharbour and Wollongong. Together with the Dunmore and later Shellharbour Junction stations, Oak Flats has long served as the rail connection for the coastal suburbs of the City of Shellharbour.

History

The former station in 1951

The railway reached the area in 1887, when the South Coast Line was extended from Wollongong to North Kiama. Initially stations were only provided at Dunmore and Albion Park[8] – although Albion Park Station was known as Oak Flats until the following year.[9]

Local politician and sometime Premier of New South Wales George Fuller was a prominent landholder in the district – his father had named Dunmore – and in 1921 he subdivided some of his land at Oak Flats, on the southern shore of Lake Illawarra.[10] The development of a residential area over the next few years spurred the NSW Government Railways to build a station for the new subdivision; this opened in 1925.[3] The original station featured a single wooden platform and small, skillion-roofed weatherboard waiting shed.[11]

Concerns over accessibility and a constrained site led the State Rail Authority to relocate the station in 2003. The $6 million interchange, built by Bovis Lend Lease on a new site 400 metres east of the original, opened on 21 February. The building features a double pitched roof, a band of tangerine-coloured glazed bricks, recycled timber beams and distinctive Y-shaped steel columns. Opening the new facility, then Transport Minister Carl Scully described it as "one of the best railway stations in the state."[12][13] A plan to name the new station "Shellharbour City (Oak Flats)" was abandoned following community opposition.[14] The earlier station was subsequently demolished.

Electronic ticketing, in the form of the Opal smart card, has been available at Oak Flats since 2014.[15]

Croom Tunnel

Immediately to the east of Oak Flats Station is the 40-metre-long Croom Tunnel, said to be the shortest railway tunnel in NSW.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 Asset Standards Authority (30 April 2015). "Train Operating Conditions (TOC) Manual – Track Diagrams (version 3.0)" (PDF).
  2. ↑ Transport for New South Wales (November 2013). "Transport Access Program – Oak Flats commuter car park" (PDF).
  3. 1 2 Bozier, Rolfe. "NSWrail.net: Oak Flats Station".
  4. ↑ "Electrifying news". South Coast Register. 20 November 2001.
  5. ↑ Bureau of Transport Statistics (March 2015). "Summary of train journeys (official patronage figures)".
  6. ↑ Bureau of Transport Statistics (November 2012). Compendium of Sydney Rail Travel Statistics, 8th Edition.
  7. ↑ Sydney Trains (October 2014). "South Coast Line – Bomaderry or Port Kembla to Central and Bondi Junction".
  8. ↑ Bozier, Rolfe. "NSWrail.net: South Coast Line".
  9. ↑ Bozier, Rolfe. "NSWrail.net: Albion Park Station".
  10. ↑ "Oak Flats sub-division". Robertson Advocate. 18 March 1921.
  11. ↑ "Oak Flats Railway Station (NSW), June 1951".
  12. ↑ Singer, Michelle (22 February 2003). "Scully enjoys rail platform". Illawarra Mercury.
  13. ↑ Design Inc. "Projects: Oak Flats Station".
  14. ↑ O'Connor, Kerrie (14 May 2002). "SRA terminates plans to rename Oak Flats station". Illawarra Mercury.
  15. ↑ Opal card available on all Sydney trains by next Friday Sydney Morning Herald 20 March 2014
  16. ↑ Shellharbour City Council (12 January 2011). "Shellharbour heritage inventory: Croom railway tunnel" (PDF).
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