Hornsby railway station

Hornsby railway station is a suburban railway station located at the junction of the Main North and North Shore lines, serving the Sydney suburb of Hornsby. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 North Shore Line and T9 Northern Line services and intercity Central Coast & Newcastle Line services, as well as NSW TrainLink regional services.

Hornsby
Southbound view of the platforms, November 2022
General information
Location	George Street, Hornsby Sydney, New South Wales Australia
Coordinates	33°42′11″S 151°05′55″E
Elevation	187 metres (614 ft)
Owned by	Transport Asset Manager of New South Wales
Operated by	Sydney Trains
Line(s)	Main North North Shore
Distance	33.86 km (21.04 mi) from Central via Strathfield
Platforms	5 (1 side, 2 island)
Tracks	5
Connections	Bus
Construction
Structure type	Ground
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Status	Staffed
Station code	HBY
Website	Transport for NSW
History
Opened	17 September 1886 (138 years ago) (1886-09-17)
Electrified	Yes (1926)
Previous names	Hornsby Junction (1894–1900)
Passengers
2024[1]	6,621,140 (year) 18,091 (daily)[2] (Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink)
Services
Preceding station Sydney Trains Following station Asquith towards Berowra North Shore & Western Line Waitara towards City Terminus Northern Line Normanhurst towards Gordon via Central Preceding station NSW TrainLink Following station Asquith Limited services towards Newcastle Interchange Central Coast & Newcastle Line Epping towards Central Berowra towards Newcastle Interchange Berowra towards Gosford or Wyong Central Coast & Newcastle Line Weekday peak only Gordon towards Central Woy Woy towards Newcastle Interchange Central Coast & Newcastle Line Express Epping towards Central Gosford towards Grafton, Casino or Brisbane NSW TrainLink North Coast Line Strathfield towards Sydney Gosford towards Moree or Armidale NSW TrainLink North Western Line
Location

History

The station opened on 17 September 1886 as Hornsby, but was renamed Hornsby Junction on 1 November 1894. This was due to the construction of Normanhurst station to the south, which was initially named Hornsby as it was located in what was the more densely populated area of Hornsby at the time. Naming the station Hornsby Junction was an attempt to avoid confusion, but it was realised that having two Hornsby stations was still very confusing. On 1 May 1900, the suburb and station to the south was renamed Normanhurst, and Hornsby Junction reverted to Hornsby.^[3][4]

On 1 January 1890, Hornsby became a junction station with the opening of the North Shore line to St Leonards. In 1894, a third platform was built along with a locomotive depot to the east of the station.^[5] Hornsby was the northern extremity of the electrified network from 1930 until it was extended to Gosford in 1960. The wires did continue north of the station as far as the Hornsby Maintenance Depot.

The station was extensively upgraded in 1986, including tiling of the platform, the addition of shelters and the modification of the southern concourse. The southern concourse was again extensively modified sometime between April 1994 and October 1995 to include brick lift shafts and accessibility to each platform.

As part of the CityRail Clearways Project, a fifth platform was constructed for use by through northbound trains. To allow for the new line, the Hornsby Signal Box was shifted 120 metres in 2007.^[6] The new platform opened on 16 March 2009, with the existing Platform 4 becoming a turnback platform for Northern line trains. The additional platform allows extra trains to run on the Northern line via the Epping to Chatswood line and improves reliability.^[7] As Hornsby is both an originating and terminating point for some services, on 10 July 2003 the communications system in a Millennium Train failed because the train's software could not compute that the origin and destination of the service had the same name.^[8]

Platforms and services

Platform	Line	Stopping pattern	Notes
1	T9	Services to Epping & Hornsby via Gordon	[9]
	T1	Weekday services to Penrith, Richmond & Emu Plains	[9]
2	T1	Terminating services from Central Services to Berowra	[9][10]
	CCN	Evening peak services to Gosford & Wyong	[10]
3	T9	Services to Central & Gordon via Strathfield	[11]
	CCN	Services to Central	[10]
	North Coast Region	Services to Central	Set down only[12]
	North Western Region	Services to Central	Set down only[13]
4	T9	Terminating services to and from Central & Gordon via Strathfield	[11]
5	North Coast Region	Services to Grafton, Casino & Brisbane	Pick up only[12]
	North Western Region	Services to Armidale/Moree	Pick up only[13]
	CCN	Services to Gosford, Wyong & Newcastle	[10]

Transport links

Western side building and entrance, October 2022

Platform 5, completed in 2009 as part of Rail Clearways Program

CDC NSW operates eleven bus routes via Hornsby station, under contract to Transport for NSW:

• 575: to Macquarie University via Turramurra^[14]
• 587: to Westleigh^[15]
• 588: to Normanhurst West^[16]
• 589: to Sydney Adventist Hospital^[17]
• 590: to Pennant Hills via Thornleigh and Normanhurst
• 591: to St Ives^[18]
• 592: to Brooklyn & Mooney Mooney^[19]
• 595: to Mount Colah^[20]
• 596: to Hornsby Heights^[21]
• 597: to Berowra station^[22]
• 598: Hornsby Loop via Asquith^[23]

Hornsby is also the terminus of two NightRide routes:

• N80: to Town Hall station via Strathfield^[24]
• N90: to Town Hall station via Chatswood^[25]

Trackplan

Current track layout

Track layout prior to construction of Platform 5