Cronulla railway station is a heritage-listed suburban railway station and the terminus of the Cronulla line, serving the Sydney suburb of Cronulla. It was designed and built by the NSW Department of Railways during 1939. It is also known as Cronulla Railway Station group. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The station is served by Sydney Trains T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line services. The station is unusual in that the two platforms are situated end to end, rather than side by side, making it the second longest rail platform in New South Wales, after Albury.
History
thumb|[[Sydney Trains T set|T set at Cronulla in 2005]]
thumb|Station front in January 2007
Thomas Holt (1811–88) owned most of the land that stretched from Sutherland to Cronulla in the 1860s. Holt built Sutherland House on the foreshore of Gwawley Bay in 1818, on the eastern side of Sylvania. After the Illawarra railway line was built to Sutherland in 1885, the area became popular for picnics and swimming. Many regulars rented beach houses at Cronulla every year for holidays. The Cronulla area was subdivided in 1895 and land was offered for sale at A£10 per acre. In 1899, the government named the area Gunnamatta, which means "sandy hills". The municipality of Sutherland Shire was proclaimed on 15 March 1906, and the Post Office reopened in 1907. On 26 February 1908 it was officially changed to Cronulla and Gunnamatta was used for the name of the bay, on the western side. The first public school opened in 1910. In 1908, the NSW Government had approved construction of a steam tram route from Sutherland to Cronulla, with construction completed and steam trams operating along the route from 12 June 1911. The area remained mostly semi rural in the inter-war period. After World War II there was a large population increase and the area was suburbanised from the 1950s, with many of the guest houses being replaced by high rise flats. A federal loan for "state works" including "speeding up of the construction of the Sutherland-Cronulla line" was granted to the NSW government in November 1938. The Cronulla line replaced the steam tramway.
As part of the Cronulla line, five suburban railway stations with Inter-war Functionalist style platform buildings were constructed from Kirrawee to Woolooware (Kirrawee since demolished), and Sutherland Railway Station rebuilt with a pair of Inter-war Functionalist style platform buildings. Cronulla, as the terminus of the line, was regarded as the most important station on the line, and was officially opened on 16 December 1939 by the NSW Governor Lord Wakehurst. The Cronulla terminus was unlike any other railway terminus due to the very long single side loading platform designed to take two full length electric trains end to end. Cronulla was a major tourist resort, and the railway station was constructed close to the ocean beach. The design of the station allowed large crowds to move quickly in and out of the trains and off the platform.
The Cronulla line was constructed as an electrified railway line, and was the first major use of a miniaturised relay locking system using electrical relays for electric light signalling for sections of the line (known as the electro- pneumatic system). As a result, train stabling west of Cronulla was replaced by stabling sidings opposite platform 2. Cronulla has the second longest platform in New South Wales, after Albury.
|p2linename = T4
|p2stop = services to & from Bondi Junction
|p2notes =
- 971: to Hurstville
- 985: to Westfield Miranda via Woolooware Bay
- 987: to Kurnell
- 988: to Caringbah station limited weekday service
Cronulla station is served by one NightRide route:
- N11: to Town Hall station
Cronulla & National Park Ferry Cruises operates one ferry route to and from Bundeena.
Trackplan
{|
|thumb|250px|none|Cronulla station in single line days had a double length platform
|thumb|250px|none|Cronulla station in double line days
|}
Heritage listing
As at 18 October 2010, Cronulla Railway Station – inclusive of its 1939 platform and platform buildings, identified moveable items and landscaping – is of State heritage significance. Cronulla Railway Station is of historical significance as a major 1930s Depression period NSW government public works project, and through its relationship to the development of the suburb of Cronulla. Cronulla Railway Station is of aesthetic significance as the major terminus station on the 1939 Cronulla line, the importance of which is reflected in the size, design and high architectural quality of the railway station's collection of outstanding Inter-war Functionalist style railway buildings. Cronulla Railway Station is rare within the NSW rail network, and considered to be one of the finest examples of Inter-war Functionalist style railway station architecture in NSW. The platform buildings are noted for their use of dichromatic brickwork, parapeted roofs, curved corners, strong horizontal planes, stepped steel awnings, complex brickwork, decorative features and complex geometric massing. The station is further noted for its cohesion as a precinct with several individual elements and its overall degree of integrity. Cronulla Railway Station has a dramatic street facade to Cronulla Street with a unique central clock tower which also houses electric signalling equipment. Cronulla Railway Station is of high technical significance for its ability to demonstrate design and construction techniques of the mid-20th century.