There have been attempts over time to bring a railway to the Beaches
As Northern Beaches motorists cope with the latest arrangements on the Warringah Freeway, envious thoughts may turn to those parts of Sydney that are served by rail.
There have been at least three false starts on rail to the Peninsula. In 1911 local MP Arthur was promoting a proposal for a line to branch from the existing North Shore line at Roseville and head north east around the head of Middle Harbour, through Frenchs Forest to Terrey Hills, down to Mona Vale and then north to Barrenjoey.
Momentum picked up in 1915 when the Department of Public Works, under the direction of John Bradfield of Harbour Bridge fame, looked at transport for the greater Sydney area. Two railways were considered for the Northern Beaches. One branched from north of North Sydney and headed via a high-level bridge to Seaforth, then Manly and on to Newport.
The second branched from the existing line at Gordon, largely following today’s Mona Vale Road, but descended to Narrabeen before heading north along the coast to Mona Vale.
In 1921 a delegation accompanied the Minister of Works, Mr Estell to inspect this northernmost proposal. Although many positive comments were made, it did not proceed.
However the one via Seaforth remained very much alive and it was incorporated into the design of the Harbour Bridge. A tunnel was commenced at North Sydney Station which is still there today.
However during the construction of the bridge it was decided that Warringah would be better served by a freeway, again via a high level bridge at Seaforth. The planned rail corridor on the eastern side of the bridge was changed to trams, land was resumed for the Seaforth bridge but it was abandoned in the 1970s.
The latest idea was a road tunnel to the beaches but that too has been abandoned, leaving Beaches residents with no other option than to use the Warringah Freeway.
By Richard Michell
