Volume 3 | Nº8 helensburghdistrictherald.com.au | editor@helensburghdistrictherald.com.au
SEPTEMBER 2013
Draft Train Timetable Rattles Community
By Genevieve Swart Parents and commuters were anxiously awaiting the new Sydney Trains timetable as a leaked draft shows that services to our area may be cut. Concerns were based on a draft obtained by Fairfax in May and described in the Sydney Morning Herald as “Sydney’s biggest train timetable change in almost a decade”. According to the draft, local high school children and commuters using the South Coast Line could face longer journeys. Afternoon services from Heathcote to Helensburgh would be cut from two trains to one. This would mean if a Heathcote High student missed the 3.28pm train to Helensburgh, instead of 15 minutes, their journey home could take hours. Children would be faced with the option of backtracking to Sutherland, or waiting for the next train to Helensburgh – at 5.46pm. Heathcote High School said 220 students from Helensburgh and Waterfall use the train to travel to and from school. More teenagers at Engadine High and St John Bosco College also travel home to the northern Illawarra via train.
Community concern: Helensburgh (above), Stanwell Park and Otford Stations could be subjected to reduced train services.
The new times make no allowance for children who have extra curricular lessons or sport, say parents. Continued on page 3
250-ATE
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Page 8 SEPTEMBER 2013 Helensburgh & District Herald 1