The South Coast Line (SCO) is an intercity rail service operated by NSW TrainLink that services the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The service runs from , and runs the entire length of the eponymous South Coast railway line to . The service also runs along the Eastern Suburbs railway line at peak hours and the Port Kembla railway line to . It is operated with NSW TrainLink H sets and Sydney Trains T sets, with Endeavour railcars operating the service on the non-electrified line between and Bomaderry.
Passenger trains first operated on the South Coast railway line in 1887, and is one of five routes on the NSW TrainLink Intercity network. The South Coast Line routes span 40 stations, across of railway. An additional 5 stations and of railway are travelled by South Coast Line trains at peak hour on the Eastern Suburbs railway line.
History
Stations
The first passenger train services on the Illawarra commenced on 21 June 1887, after the line was completed from Clifton to , and later, North Kiama on 9 November 1887. The line was later connected to via , , and the following year between July and October 1888, after delays on construction between Waterfall and Clifton. The line was further extended to through , opening on 2 June 1893.
Throughout its long history, the South Coast Line's roster of stations has changed significantly. Many stations in the Upper Illawarra had closed and new ones opened towards the first half of the 20th century. Stations such as the ones serving Clifton were closed, along with a majority of the original railway between Waterfall and Coalcliff between 1915 and 1920, replaced with a new alignment that made use of a flatter gradient and made the infamous Otford Tunnel defunct. New stations along the line that opened throughout this period included in 1902, in 1915, in 1916, in 1917, and in 1948. Further removals of stations from the line in the latter half of the 20th century included the station serving Yallah in 1974, the majority of the stations on the line between Kiama and Bomaderry, and in 1983. was also closed in November 2014, replaced by , after rising commercial and residential development in Flinders and Shell Cove and their distance from Dunmore station, prompted the Government of New South Wales to build a replacement station closer to the area of urban growth.
While the railway network at Port Kembla was built in 1916, stations and passenger trains servicing the surrounding suburbs did not operate until 5 January 1920, when the Port Kembla railway station was opened. A station at was added to the Port Kembla commuter branch in 1926, along with one at , a decade later, in 1936. A railway station for workers at Port Kembla, named , after the nearby Lysaght steel plant, was also opened in 1938.
Some platforms on the line (e.g. Scarborough) are only 4 or 6 cars long, so not all doors may open on 8-car trains.
Services and rolling stock
Services were originally operated with locomotive-hauled trains and, later, Diesel railcars, prior to the electrification of the South Coast railway line. The line was electrified to in 1984, with the suburban Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line service occasionally extending its service past the terminus at to Helensburgh during peak hours, a practice that the current Sydney Trains Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line service still follows today. Electrification extended to the following year. Despite the newly installed electrification, diesel sets and locomotive-hauled trains still operated along the line from all the way past Wollongong to Sydney, including the South Coast Daylight Express, until 1991. Electrification of the South Coast railway line was further extended to in 1993 and, finally, to Kiama in 2001. The railway between Kiama and is the only part of the line that remains non-electrified, operated by New South Wales Endeavour railcars since their introduction in 1994.