The Maldon-Dombarton Rail Link: Lost Sydney
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ม.ค. 2023
- The Maldon-Dombarton Rail Link was a proposed freight railway on the far outskirts of Sydney that commenced construction in 1983. And yet, the project has remained unfinished for 35 years. Hints can still be seen of this proposed railway, most notably the Bridge to Nowhere, with incomplete spans that sit on either side of the Nepean River, never joined together as once planned. So, why was this railway never finished? Find out in this video.
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Links:
NSWRail Photo Album of the Maldon-Dombarton Railway: www.nswrail.net/lines/show.ph...
Flickr Photo Album of the Maldon-Dombarton Railway: www.flickr.com/photos/gunzel4...
My annotated map outlining the abandoned route of the railway (including pics!): www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edi...
The 1983 EIS for the project: drive.google.com/file/d/1DZuC...
The 2011 Feasibility Study into the project that ultimately recommended against construction: drive.google.com/file/d/1UxlP...
A 2010 report into an Illawarra-Macarthur rail link that strongly recommended constructing the railway: drive.google.com/file/d/1iTOJ...
Enjoy this video? Check out the rest of my Lost Sydney series! • "Lost Sydney" Series - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
PHOTO ALBUM 1: www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW%3Adombarton_maldon
PHOTO ALBUM 2: www.flickr.com/photos/gunzel412/albums/72157607633912343/
MY ANNOTATED MAP INCLUDING LINKS TO PHOTOS!: www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1BbCp0WZbfa31r5HnBjlJ9dv19hDh1jY&entry=yt&ll=-34.32135347014184%2C150.70708745000002&z=11
(More links in the description)
Hey all! Hope you enjoy this video :) I've been captivated by the unfinished Maldon-Dombarton Rail Link since I was in year 10 and stumbled upon a news article on the project, so it's honestly really exciting to get to make a documentary on the line all these years later.
What do you all think about the Maldon-Dombarton Railway? Should they finish constructing it? Should they not bother? If they did finish it, should they allow passenger services on the line? Let me know below!
13:22 Of course any future world class high speed rail network will require its own dedicated rail corridor. The Japan Rail Tokaido Shinkansen would not have been built without it.
This 1960s documentary explains all.
Tip: enable closed captions and auto translation as the video is in Japanese.
th-cam.com/video/8fF_jn6jakY/w-d-xo.html
Please note the surname of Premier Nick Greiner, who cancelled the Maldon-Dombarton railway is pronounced like “China”. His nickname was Slimey Greiney. When the M1 (then called F3) between Wahroonga and Waitara opened in 1990 it included the first ever sound barrier walls in NSW and were in Mr Greiners electorate of Ku-Ring Gai. Now quite common, in 1990 sound barrier walls were seen as an expensive luxury for Mr Greiner’s constituents and led to them being known as “The Great Wall of Greiner”.
PS love your work, thank you, keep it up !
"His nickname was Slimey Greiney." AKA, The Stainless Steel Ferret.
Love the extra insights and local knowledge in the comments. Great story.
Typical old Aussie mindset: You want something that might make life easier? Too fancy....
As someone who used to frequent between Sydney and Moss Vale on the train, when going past this place i always wondered what this bridge to nowhere was, and its history. Thanks for this story it filled in some curious blank spots.
Thank you!
There's a unfinished half built railway much closer to the city and it's something very few people know about. It's a partially cut loop line that goes from Waverton / Wollstonecraft towards Crows Nest. It was to be the missing link (of many missing links) to the northern beaches. Lots of vegetation covers parts that were cut.
Very interesting…do you know anything more about this? Shoot me an email if you do :))
@@BuildingBeautifully I only found out about it via a real estate agent in that area. There's a house on the edge of part of the cutting. The building of the Harbour Bridge and other factors sadly diverted the efforts in getting a line out to the beaches and it was difficult terrain without the luxury of following a ridge top as the T1 line does. There's a flip side to Waverton station that doesn't get all the attention. Lots of land that government purchased in the area, some has become housing now but some is parkland now. On the North Shore line, earthworks for quadruplicating the line between Chatswood and North Sydney were undertaken, but this section of track was never completed. Commuters have gone past a unfinished works since the 1920's, thats why the rail corridor is so wide there. Unusual bits of unfinished work all through the area. The planned railway to Manly and the Northern Beaches was a victim of the financial crisis of the 1930s. Layered onto all this is connections with the tram network which strangely derailed the idea of doing a proper rail network as Bradfield designed. It's tricky to investigate as the blasted Metro line swamps many of the web searches now.
Ah yes, thank you for letting me know. Might look into what little evidence there is one day!
I know of that line, my grandparents lived in Greenwich so Woolstonecraft was the nearby station. They park trains on it during the off peak times I think. The best way to see if from the train.
As far as I am aware the only thing that was built of this were some stub tunnels.
I used to work for the power company and we had to patrol the powerlines in that area. We used to drive along the train line quite often, a lot of it had the ballast already laid, was like a road. Drove through a lot of the cuttings too, was just so interesting, and since i was legally in there, why wouldn't you. Great video mate.
I grow up just down the tracks from this bridge (can even see a dam on my families old property in one of the drone shots) on the Maldon side and spent many days after school sitting on this bridge looking down to the river. Thanks for covering this, it brings back many memories.
I did a project on this story once many years ago. Love that you are covering it! It holds such promise for connecting the area.
Thank you!
what isn't taken into account is just how geologically unstable and maintenance intensive the current south coast line is between Waterfall and Thirroul. It was built using picks and shovels 120+ years ago. We're one bad east coast low or landslide away from the line being completely knocked out for months or years. That's exactly what happened last year. Keep in mind how many people commute to Sydney from the Illawarra and how much of the states exports arrive to Port Kembla via the SCL.
The mix of cargos at Port Kembla are also very different to back in the 80s; it's one of the biggest ports in the country for coal, grain, autos, refined fuels and bulk goods, and soon LNG. In the future it's the preferred location for the state's second container terminal. The port can't grow unless it has the rail infrastructure to support it.
That is a very good point, there is no default option if the line goes out of service and the port needs transport or it all stops.
When Newcastle port was privatised the contract for it included an anti-competition clause whereby the NSW government will not permit Port Kemba port to expand. Why people in the Illawarra did not rise up with pitchforks about that I do not know. As pointed out in some of the motorway videos here (some of which have these), and as also caused huge delay to getting Western Sydney Airport, competition-killing clauses like that represent a very large transfer of taxpayer and consumer funds into corporate pockets. It is the sort of thing that, rightly, makes privatisation unpopular.
I grew up in Wilton and remember this line being built. As kids we went south over Picton Rd and over the hill to walk along the line being developed.
Maybe it could be converted into a bike path.
That's such a good idea!
That was what I was thinking. A gentle train-friendly gradient up the escarpment would be great, but they’d have to do the tunnel, and that ain’t happening. Bridges are problematic, as well. I’d still be interested in mountain-biking the bits that are done, though.
Someone should have told Evil Knievel about it.
A visit to Mount Ousley Road, the primary route into Wollongong, will very quickly inform you why this piece of rail infrastructure is still so desperately needed. Huge coal rucks, including B doubles that were never intended to come down the escarpment, clutter this roadway making it unsafe for regular cars etc. The current government is planning to improve sections of the road by installing a purpose built truck lane. All well and good BUT if this railway was completed there would be far less incidents with trucks.
As reported, the original concept showed great foresight for movement of coal from western fields but a subsequent Greiner Liberal Government must have been "convinced" by trucking barons to not complete the job. Hopefully something will happen with the Federal Government and the expected change of State Govt.
A completion of the line could also provide good access for Illawarra people to the new airport with a branch line with some passenger trains. A very similar thing happened with the Sandy Hollow rail link.
Thanks, been the story most of my life growing up south of Wollongong. Knew about the unfinished bridge but didn't realise how much of the route was complete, a real shame they can't open it up to walkers/riders at least.
Edit: Fun fact there used to be a regular passenger service that ran between Unanderra and Moss Vale as well, stopping at Summit Tank.
Yes it is a shame, ah well. Thanks for watching!
It also stopped at Robertson if memory serves me rightly, as well as request stops at certain other places. The other reason they might baulk at finishing this line, is those coal trains could also use the Moss Vale-Unanderra line, it's a lot longer, but it's already there. In that light Maldon-Dombarton while not finished, and probably never will be, until someone has an epiphany about it.
Sharath: I've just now stumbled across your channel, and am so impressed that I subscribed.
What impresses me most about your channel is your clearly enunciated, expressive, well-paced narration - something many other TH-camrs could emulate. There's noting irritates me more than indistinct gabble at a 19-to-the-dozen pace.
Keep up the good work, man! 👍
Aw, thank you so much! I’ve been getting a few disheartening comments hating on my lisp (which, uh, I can’t just turn off lol) so it’s very nice to hear someone praise my narration instead. Thank you!
Answer is simples. Nick Greiner.
The Thatcherite free marketeer.
Neville Wran's ministries did well on capital works.
G'day, this was probably the most objective film about the route that I have seen. Most people are very critical, yet you have sited aspects like the fall in coal prices as reasons for its demise. I am planning to do a similar film in the future, however I will look at it from a slighly different angle. Perhaps a group of us could organise a tour through Water NSW to visit the line
Thank you! Yes, something I focus on this channel is being objective, and allowing viewers to draw their own opinions. We may hate that they cancelled the line, but truly no one can know 100% for sure why they did, so I just focused on other stuff instead. And yes, organising a tour sounds like a superb idea 😎
I'm in
This line has always fascinated me, I always wanted to try and walk the whole thing. Fantastic video, it's great to see this forgotten link be recognised by a big channel such as yours.
Thank you so much!
you would never be able to walk it, goes through the water catchment.
@@214BIgl Walkers - well known for polluting water catchments. Coal mines in those catchments are apparently not a problem though. Money talks eh. Nothing to stop anyone walking in this and the Warragamba area but signs, and people have, but its ‘fine’ country as they say. Just don’t get caught.
@@rowanjones3476 I agree, I got caught once in there. After I was no longer working.
Yes, absolutely money talks, it's also dangerous, my job was to monitor and seek the surface disasters. It was terrible hence why I left.
Would've been nice to have a direct link between Wollongong and South West / West Sydney instead of having to go all the way to Central
I worked on that rail line and watched 2 men die and one badly injured in an explosion and the line was very near complete when work was halted and companies paid out millions to cease work and walk away, yeah two men died horribly for nothing
I've said it before, and will say it now, the Maldon - Dombarton line would have been, and would still be, of more benefit as a dual use line, of freight and pax. Not necessarily as a HSR service, but even just to get people from SW Sydney to Wollongong, and the South Coast, without needing to backtrack. When I lived in Campbelltown, 2006 - 2017, and before that Liverpool, 1989 - 2006, people regularly lamented the lack of rail access to Wollongong beaches, UoW, etc, from these areas, without needing to backtrack toward Sydenham or Wolli Creek, and the few bus services, from Campbelltown, are always crowded, to the point of being dangerous.
Been a bus every hour on a weekday for the last 4 years or so. It's great. But crazy it goes down to 2 a day on a Sunday.
@@diondicello161 good to see they increased services, before I left in 2017 there was a push to increase bus services.
Would it have been of an even better use with the new airport being built in western Sydney with a direct Illawarra -Airport train.?
Agreed. I doubt it’ll ever happen but I do think it would really help connecting the Illawarra with Campbelltown, and open up both areas to more economic activity and employment. Thanks for watching!
You would never make for a life in politics....you have far too much common sense.
As former freight train crew, I'm one of the comparitively few people that has seen The MSV-Unanderra line in recent years, and that includes the Avon East tunnel portal which sits adjacent the existing line in clear view. The remote ruggedness of the location is probably difficult to appreciate without seeing it in the flesh... The 3km long tunnel would have been an impressive feat of engineering if completed. Other remnants of the incomplete project remain in the form of a duplicated section of the MSV-Unanderra line that abruptly goes back to single line with a crossover just before the tunnel if travelling in the downline direction. a stub of this second track extends for a short length beyond this crossover before just ending and going nowhere. There are also steel stauncheons installed trackside for the carriage of overhead wiring, but with no wiring fitted beyond the Unanderra junction with the south coast line. Again, these stauncheons abruptly before the tunnel. Many people mistakenly think thesr were installed to allow interurban passenger traffic to use the line, however they were actually a throwback to a time when electric freight traction was still seen to have many benefits of cost and utilty.in 1983, the State Rail Authority had invested in an almost brand new fleet of electric freight locomotives intended primarily for use on heavy coal workings to and from port teminals including Port Kembla Inner Harbour. By 2002 however with Freightcorp having been sold off to private interests to become Pacific National and the benefits of electric freight haulage being deemed insufficient to maintain the fleet in operation, and the infrastructure arely sufficiemt to supply the power demands, these had all been withdrawn from service. Had the line been completed, the electrical overhead network would also have been extended inland to the main south line and onto the respective coal branches.
The original proposal for a much longer tunnel - it was actually relatively late in the piece that they went with the shorter tunnel - I have spent a while at the State Archives looking at this.
Which State Government cancelled it and what were the reasons plz?
@@eddieseymour9948 it was the Wran or Griener governments. It was cancelled as the coal traffic never eventuated.
@@rogue265 Thanks.
@@rogue265 Wran wanted to continue, Griener got into power and with falling coal prices cancelled the project but complete lack of foresight, short term budget objectives would have been the real reason. The reckless mis-management of taxpayer dollars continues unabated.
12:29 a man died in an explosive accident. I believe it was this line in early 1985. The court case showed 6 failures in procedure. Although no proper compensation. Maybe this caused problems with finalising the road..
This would remove so many traffic problems in Wollongong.
The man was only 21 years old, and a true friend of mine. Always putting others before himself.
The comments about the water catchment area brought me back to the 80s as a school student, studying social science, when the whole Wilton vs Badgerys Creek airport site war was in full swing. It was the first time I’d heard of an EIS. I remember the against argument for Badgerys Creek being the closeness to the environmentally important Blue Mountains to the west, the noise of planes over large areas of housing (no ocean approach like Mascot) and how much fog it held on cold mornings. Wilton’s argument was the water quality. Goulburn volunteered to take it, and a HSR running Canberra-Goulburn-Sydney would have been ideal. I remember by the late 80s they’d all but ruled out Badgerys Creek, and it looked like a done deal that Wilton would get it. Several things happened before the year 2000 that made me question the integrity of those decisions. Wilton was subdivided and housing growth exploded. The M7 design was modified to future proof it into a transport network to favour Badgerys Creek. They “protected” the catchment area (as explained well in this video). So when Badgerys Creek was announced it was no surprise. But like so many false starts, I had to wonder if it really was going to happen. Once the property resumptions started, I knew it was locked in. I guess the seem to think that technology and instruments will prevent fog being an issue. Planes are a bit quieter too, but they will still be loud. I feel for people near there who built houses in the western Sydney expansion along the M4 in the 80s and 90s. There was no solid airport proposal back then. They have every right to be NIMBY. Unlike those who bought in the inner south west and complained about an airport that was there decades before they were born, and still got government handouts for noise abatement…… I guess water quality trumps everything else, except sanity in politics. Goulburn would have been the better choice. Heathrow for Sydney.
I never knew Goulburn was an option but it makes more sense than Badgery's, upgrading the existing rail link would have been very cost effective. I guess they stalled on announcing Badgery's until enough people in the know bought property there.
@@seanworkman431 the government (and to an extent the media) tried to hush the Goulburn campaign. You’re right about giving insiders time to jump in on the property “boom” and cash in. There was even a murder over property that was earmarked for the BC airport….. and I’m sure any “excess” land will become lucrative business park development with profit shared amongst key people, oh, and Macquarie Bank……
Great video, as ever.
Your mispronunciations are fun Easter-eggs, eagerly awaited with each new posting. Nailed the Unanderra but slipped up on the Greiner. Rhymes with designer, which he wasn’t.
I heard a rumour that vested interests in truck transport (rhymes with thin socks) saw to it that their precious coal transporting income wasn't interrupted. They're still lugging it down Appin Road and breaking down on Mt Ousley.
Not to mention all the money they rake in from diesel.
Yep
I remember learning about this rail project after briefly researching locations of abandoned railway tunnels in NSW and learning about a few in the Wollongong and Southern Highlands area. I then used to look out and spot the abandoned railway cutting and bridge when flying out of Sydney and the flight route passes Cordeaux and Exeter on its way south west.
Excellent coverage as always mate! And your pronunciation of Unanderra was pretty spot on (at least the times you said it you-nan-derra anyway ;)
Thank you! Haha yeah said it wrong once I remember but better than saying them all wrong 🤷♂️
Another wasted project for Wollongong but put thousands of trucks on the road instead ..yep doggy deals going on ..
Nick Greiner was duty bound to cancel anything a labor government started, no matter how much had been commenced or indeed the benefits to be had by it's completion.
He also absolutely hated railways in general.
He closed down many railway stations.
@@Elainerulesutube so the jeff kennet of nsw?
@@breemsp591 you want a list of what Labor did in Victoria? Their new deal in the 80’s closed many rural stations. Then we had Labor in the 2000’s singling a major double track trunk line to Bendigo. How that fit your chip?
@@xr6lad who privatised in the first place. Who shut down all most of the regional lines. Who helped shut down industry in Victoria. Who is finally deciding to build an airport railway. If u were under libs we would have a tollway nearly everywhere just like Sydney.
I worked for the State Rail Authority back in day and worked to convert the the signalling system that had also been designed and installed for the eastern tunnel portal at Domabarton where the line was to branch off the Unanderra to Moss Vale line back to through running up the escarpment. Coldest place I ever worked in winter!
Great video mate. As I commented on your Sydney overview video the fact that so much coal & freight runs up and down the south coast line makes commuter travel so unreliable & frustrating. Completing this line even just to remove the coal traffic would be worth it to commuters.
Thank you! There’s no denying the benefits, but whether the government decides those benefits are worth it or not is another story 🤷♂️
I often wonder about how the costings are done because they never take into account the social benefit which cannot be measured in dollars and cents.
@@seanworkman431 Liberal state governments in a nut shell
@@VJMorph I think you will find it in all government because the bureaucrats are not elected, they are lifetime employees who protect their own. All senior public servants should submit a monthly productivity report that is available to the public.
A friend of mine is in the service and was very excited when his boss asked him to prepare a presentation to the big boss who speaks directly to the Minister, then 5 mins. into his presentation she fell asleep, our tax dollars hard at work.
I have to say, straight off the bat....
What a fantastic channel, and Sharath you have an excellent attention to detail which is exemplified by your post edit notations.
On that point... You might be able to use your charming lisp & epic moustache to add to your channel's branding, going forward. Just an idea.
When I was in TAFE, I spent my bordem time researching this line and one minor thing you omitted was, the funny fact that due to the contractual agreement made (I can't recall the contractor at the time), when it was cancelled in 1988... they walked away with the entire sum for that projects bid payment. Gotta love the government bureaucracy.
This is probably one of your best videos, it has great editing, and amazing camera angles with the drone, it covers it in so much detail!
great vid, imagine how impressed the residents of Bingara Gorge would be with trains banging past their back fence :) :)
Lord they wouldn’t be happy…
A very competent and interesting video. Thanks you.
Yep a white 🐘 line. Last year, the Unanderra-Moss Vale line was rain-eroded, closed and was re-constructed. Freight trains had to be detoured via Sydney to Moss Vale/Port Kembla. Our pollies only make promises resurrect the line, but nothing gets done
If you ever got to take the Cockatoo run - there is a single place where you could stop off in the water catchment area, but you are monitored. The other one on the line - that if you ever take the Cockatoo Run - you can actually see all the stanchions that were installed between Princes Hwy and Dombarton.
You may have seen the original proposal had a 12km tunnel, which got down to 600m below the level of Lake Cordeaux. I have the map somewhere
Most of the western coal now goes to Newcastle, either via the short north, or Ulan. In fact most the coal paths to Port Kembla are now unused.
Half the issue of Maldon-Dombarton was that the initial proposal was developed in the early 1970's and took over a decade to even get approval. The cabinet minutes are fascinating. The other thing to note was that M-D was going to be the first line to be built in NSW at 25kV/AC, with if successful, the conversion of the Main North to 25kV/AC as well.
YES FINALLY I have been waiting for you to cover this for a while it's good to finally see the full history of the supposed line
Awesome content and well researched. Keep em coming!👍
Thank you!
Thanks for your time and effort, excellent information. Best wishes.
Excellent video! This has been truely fascinating! Keen to see more on NSW railways.
Thank you!
You missed that this was intended to be an electric traction freight line. Staunchion posts line the corridor above Unanderra.
The foresight in the early 80s...!
Not just intended, but needed to be due to limitations in the Avon tunnel design which only allowed one diesel electric loco to go uphill. Plus it was to be 25Kv AC rather than the standard 1500v DC.
Good video! I love Syd (Sydney). Public transport is far more cheaper and better in so many ways compared with NZ. I love Syd for its beaches, double decker trains, retail items are cheaper than NZ, higher wages, and there's so much for visitors to enjoy. Things were more cheaper back in the early 80's before I was born.
Thank you! Never been to NZ but happy to hear we Aussies are winning 🤣
You and your wonderful girlfriend should consider having a lovely holiday in NZ… followed by marriage, several children, and a happy lifetime together.
There was a very exhaustive study into examining all the possible sites for a second major airport for Sydney.
It finally ended up that the only 2 locations were either Badgery's Creek or Wilton.
The former was eliminated because of the cost of building a new railway and the proximity of flightpaths over [future] residential areas.
One reason Wilton ended up their favoured location, was the proximity to the rail line being built to Wollongong,
meaning the terminals could have been in easy access of a proposed station [similar to Gatwick], on an existing electrified line,
but one of the governments pulled out of the study and the final report never released, and of course the rail line never finished.
fascinating - thanks for your diligent research, clear diction and enthusiastic explanation.
good on ya NICK, he was a bit of a D / / k head back in the day. but you have done a great job on this. thank
Bravo! You've done it again! World class!
The capacity issue comes down to the existing Illawarra line being single track for about 1.6km through the Coalcilff “gauntlet” tunnel. The Maldon line would have partially remedied this. The new tunnel would have provided a relaxed grade down the scarp from the Southern Highlands. The existing Unanderra Moss Vale link is very steep in parts and problematic for intensive freight operations. I don’t believe for a moment that the-ve CBR killed it. I shudder to think what the CBRs for the new metros are , assuming the exercise was ever performed. The then Water Board was most displeased with the threat it perceived the operational Maldon- Dombarton line would pose to the purity of a water catchment feeding dams serving the entire south west of Sydney and the Illawarra. I suspect the road hauliers may also have unobtrusively voiced their opposition.
Yeah, that’s certainly all possible.
Well done! What a fascinating piece.
You nailed the pronunciation of Unanderra. I always wondered why that bridge was never finished.
Such a good job thanks for the vid
I would love to know how much money the government's of NSW, of both colours have wasted on projects started by one then cancelled by the other.
Thanks for the video. Great content.
This video is really well done and I never knew of it until I watched this video
Thank you!
We have one in KIRKBY IN ASHFIELD NOTTS. Goes from a road bridge to a foot path
With the Wilton growth area taking off, it might be a good idea to use the Maldon-Wilton portion of this corridor to make a rail link to the new housing estates. They could probably put one station on either side of the Hume Highway depending on the demand
There will never be enough demand to justify that, even if the bridge wasn’t required.
Not a bad idea. The main issue I can see is that the bridge over the Nepean is only wide enough for a single track (no room for duplication without building a whole new bridge), so it would be limited in the number of services that could operate. I'm not sure if the income from the line would justify the expense required to finish the existing bridge. That said, it could still be worth investigating as part of a new strategy to complete the whole line. If it were to go ahead, it could also help to justify electrification of the Southern Highlands line, opening the Bowral - Moss Vale area to a realistic commute from Sydney.
@@bradevans7935 There is nowhere near enough population to justify a single track line, let alone double. It's a bus service to Campbeltown at best.
For sure it’d be a good idea, doesn’t mean they’ll do it unfortunately.
@@BuildingBeautifully It's not a good idea. It would be a massive white elephant that takes away resources from where they are needed. It's a small bus route at best.
Great video mate. Keep up the good work 👏
This is really interesting! Well presented too.
Similar to the Newcastle Inner City bypass. The completed section from Jesmond to Shortland was a highway to nowhere for many years.
There is still the great mound there at Jesmond that apparently one day will go through the park and up behind the hospital from memory lived in Broadmeadow for a while many moons ago
Great video, unanderra is my local station and I recently started reading into the moss Vale unanderra line. Robertson heritage rail station has a small book on the history of the line. It would be super convenient for a freight/passenger rail between Wollongong and Campbelltown area, but I doubt we'll ever see it
great video, an awesome watch as a unanderra resident. always wanted to know more about it, thanks for doing the work for us haha
Well done. Great story.
Nice video. I live at the dz and we see this bridge from the plane every take off. Have had a few parties there before access got more difficult
Great video mate i enjoyed it , I live in the south west and love all the history and mysteries 👍
These videos are so good! Well researched, on-location filming, great presentation skills ... I can only imagine how much effort goes into every single video. Very well done & keep em coming!
I’ve done the walk from this bridge to the other derelict Maldon bridge Rd Bridge via the Nepean river. Gee it was hard yakka.
Interesting content, well documented, thanks.
Love your content mate thanks for sharing liked and subbed
Excellent thank you!
I’ve walked to the very edge of this bridge on one side and looked down a few years back. A very interesting little walk
This video made us wonder if we could go there to see this bridge. Which side did you walk to?
I tried to get to it about 18 months ago. I went in beside the Parachute centre but was met by a locked gate.
If I'm not mistaken, it was Nick Greiner who stopped the M4 at Strathfield. I believe the road that should've been built back in the '80s opened very recently.
I think that was Neville Wran
Nick only ever had one policy it was roads, roads and more roads, his CBR's would have been fixed to reflect his policies, like all CBR's.
Bruce Baird his transport minister planned to end congestion by building more roads, his son Mike came to power 20 years later also promising to end congestion by building more roads.
Mike's son will run on a policy to end congestion by building more roads.
@@BuildingBeautifully It was the Wran Government that had this project designed and started work on. The Greiner Government shut it down.
Neville Wran cancelled all the freeway projects around 1977.
I think there are still off-ramps to nowhere in Darling Harbour as part of his legacy.
The road corridor for the Northern beaches freeway was bought and paid for in the 1960's when I was at school in Seaforth.
It was to connect the Harbour bridge freeway north through Northbridge and across Middle harboour to the west of Seaforth and to join onto the Wakhurst Parkway .
Today Sydney relies on Military Road through Mosman because all the land was sold off!
There was also a project to pass through lane Cove to join onto the Newcastle freeway that was cancelled.
Brilliant example of short term thinking!
THEY COULD BUILD IT AND USE IT TO GET FROM THE SOUTH COAST TO THE NEW WESTERN SYDNEY AIRPORT IN STEAD OF GOING THE LONG WAY
Interesting video. I lived in Camden at the time of the closure and did travel around the area a bit so was familiar with the missing bridge. You mentioned that the cost of coal dropped and that this was the reason for the government's decion to abandon the project. This is generally correct, however if memory serves, the drop in coal prices led to a number of the BHP Burragorang pits to close. These mines would have been the primary source of the freight traffic on the line and also that the future of the mines in the area would be in doubt for years. As a sideline, hundreds of miners resident in Camden and surrounds were suddenly out of work as a result of the mine closures.
If you do a bit of a search on line, you can find a NSW rail map for the 1970's... then search for a rail map for 2000>. You will then see just how much rail line has been closed down... Money and viable assets wasted. Greiner was definitely bad news, but if you research a fella by the name of Carl Scully - (Labor minister of transport - 1996 -2005) you will reveal that he was another "slash and burn" villain.
Nice video…and perfect pronunciation of Unanderra 👍
So interesting thanks! New subscribers...good luck to your channel!
I thought I dreamt this bridge! My dad must've taken me there when I was really little
Interesting. If Port Kembla is to become a main container port as planned an alternative rail link needs to be prioritised before, not after the problem arises.
Interesting. Well researched
Would it not be a good idea to finish the project and provide a rail link for passengers from the south coast to the new Western Sydney Airport instead of having to go via Central/Wolli Creek etc?
Thanks - I drive past this all the time but never knew the story.
I regularly drive the Moss Vale to Unanderra section of train line.
For many years I asked people how far they dug the tunnel we'd pass at the top of Dombarton. I'd get all different answers.
Finally on a day of strong winds a tree blocked the line just before we passed the tunnel portal.
I went and had a look for myself. It only extends about 20 metres in.
Riddle solved.
What I didn't know is that it was to be over 3km long!
Considering all the new housing estates going up in the Wilton area it would make sense to complete this line as a mixed passenger and freight line.
Try using sixmaps for high res nsw imagery.
Another good site is USGS EarthExplorer, has up to date imagery, just a couple of weeks/months old rather than years old in the case of some Google satellite images.
Apparently to demob and cancel the works cost almost as much as to finish the project at the time....
I've heard that as well.
The other main issue is this alignment was to be electric, the tunnel grade was fine for electric locos but won't be for diesel and then you have issues with ventilation in such a long tunnel and diesel locos. If it was to be built for diesel the tunnel alignment would need to change and overcome engineering issues for the ventilation
Great video :)
Good episode, I hope you cover Woollahra railway station, which was stopped from being built by Nymby's in the 1960/70s one day
Fantastic Video. Loved following the route on Google Maps as the video went on :)
I had a bit of trouble finding the eastern portal. It's here -34.45015431988771, 150.75871590215175
I do agree. A commuter line from Campbelltown too Wollongong via Wilton, huge growth areas.
Great video, very informative. My father did alot of the blasting work for the cuttings on that line back in the 80s. I have some current photos of the bridge to nowhere from a recent trip out there if your interested.
Good video. This line was the butt of jokes in the Illawarra for years as every election brought politicians out of the woodwork promising this line to be completed. As usual, politicians promise everything and deliver nothing.
6:12 Greiner … rhymes with miner
NSW Government want to "straighten" the current SW rail line from near Maldon to bypass Picton and Tahmoor, and join the line at the Tahmoor coal mine. There is plans for a freeway on-ramp and off-ramp near Douglas Park to head up past Camden to go towards the new 2nd Sydney airport. Now with the 15-20 thousand houses proposed at Appin and the 15-20 thousand houses at WiIton, with a high school, shopping centres, etc, and no real transport infrastructure proposed. If the rail line was build and a station put at Wilton, it could serve as a transfer to go between the South Coast to both Picton/Tahmoor and on to the SW to Mittagong/Mossvale as well as to Narellan or Leppington and the proposed rail link to the 2nd Sydney airport. The Unanderra-Moss Vale line has stopped being used for passenger trains a while ago, with only buses traveling between Moss Vale and the South Coast. There is no rail link to the South Coast anywhere from SW of Sydney south of Wolli Creek station
Let’s hope a link is built in the next few years/decades. God knows the area needs one.
Hi Sharath, thanks for sharing this interesting video. I was never aware of this proposed line until now. Love the unfinished bridge there!! I wonder if the missing signs were taken as souvenirs by some unknown rail enthusiasts. Maybe it may be worth checking eBay just in case someone decides to sell a sign online!!! Anyway, take care. Rob in Melbourne Australia.
Looks like a good run for the Disco!!
Looking forward to this
Thanks for bringing us another thoughtful and carefully researched video. There’s history all around us and you have a knack for finding it and bringing it to an appreciative audience.
Well presented, researched and paced. I wonder what'd they will do with it? Just leave it as a monument to wishful planning?
Very interesting. I lived in that during its construction.
It's worth noting regarding high speed rail. Around the same time of this construction - the gov went and shaved all the regional rail platforms between Campbelltown and Melbourne, and I think Canberra. So the high speed rail trains could fly past the platforms without hitting the platforms. (Perhaps the topic for another video.)
Great video.
You should have mentioned the sunk costs fallacy that implies because it was started it should be finished. There are plenty of other more important projects.
BTW: I was waiting for you to show us the train pass behind you at the end. Like the Maldon-Dombarton Railway, it didn’t come.
Got to drive along those rail cuttings, tunnel portals and see the bridge up close in I think 2018, when we were revisiting the project and doing a pre construction study for it. Seemed like the Gov Authorities were potentially going ahead with it at the time .....but you know nothing has changed in 5 years. Its why those signs were errected along the route. A lot has been done as you say but the expensive items have not.
It was also going to be the first and only line with 25kv AC power (1500V DC in NSW)
Griener's brother in-law owned a coach company that got all the contracts to replace Rail services to NSW..the Gold Coast (Murwillumbah) Motor rail was turning a profit when taken off the rails
No surprises there... hopefully not one of the companies involved at Kempsey or Grafton in 1989.
@@timoleary8751 I believe not directly but maybe a contractor..
Griener's brother in-law owned Westbus