Lidcombe station opened on 1 November 1858 as Haslam's Creek after local landowner, Samuel Haslam. When in 1867 land was set aside for a cemetery nearby, the residents renamed the locality Rookwood. The official name of the station followed, being renamed Rookwood in 1878. By the turn of the century the Necropolis was also called Rookwood, so on 1 January 1914 the station name was renamed again to Lidcombe.[3][4]
On 11 November 1912, Lidcombe became a junction station, with the opening of a deviation of the Main South line to Regents Park.
On 23 April 1999, Platform 0 was opened as part of the Olympic Park line project.[5] As part of this work, the station was refurbished and a second footbridge added at the eastern end.[4]
In 2007, the Lidcombe Station Upgrade project removed the Walter Bowmer Memorial Reserve and Memorial Plaque[6] (dedicated by Auburn Council in 1986 to former alderman Walter Bowner, who served in the 1950s[7] and had a hairdressing salon at the site) located on the western end of the station adjacent to Tooheys Lane.
A new train timetable implemented in October 2013 resulted in the discontinuation of all Bankstown Line to City via Regents Park services and discontinuation of almost all trains to Liverpool via Regents Park prompting a community campaign to reinstate lost services.[8]
In 2020, the NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Sydenham to Bankstown line conversion questioned the need to terminate services at Lidcombe, and recommended that both Bankstown to City via Regents Park and Liverpool to City via Regents Park services be reinstated.[9] The Liverpool to City via Regents Park service was subsequently reinstated in the October 2024 timetable.[10]
Platforms and services
Lidcombe has six platforms: five for ordinary suburban services, and one for the shuttle between Lidcombe and Olympic Park – numbered as Platform 0 and known as the Olympic Park Sprint platform. During times of special events, some train services may make additional calls at Lidcombe.[11][12]
The Lidcombe Junction trackplan includes the Lidcombe Triangle Loop[24] with a direct bi-directional track between Auburn and Berala. The Lidcombe Triangle Loop was previously used during trackwork as a diversion route for trains from the Western Line to utilise the Bankstown line to reach Central.
References
^This figure is the number of entries and exits of a year combined averaged to a day.
