Cityrails new Epping to Chatwood line

Today marked the opening of the new train link between Epping and Chatswood, which was due to be completed mid 2008, yet delayed for whatever reason. I decided to catch it after work today to compare the travel time and see if it may be more efficient for me to catch it.

I made my way to Chatswood after work. Upon arrival, there was a 7 minute wait, seeing as it had taken just over 20 minutes to get to Chatswood from Wynyard, I didn't fancy my chances.

The ride itself is very smooth and seems quite fast. There are only 3 stations between: North Ryde, Macquarie Park and Macquarie University.

Mobile phone reception was available all the way through; I was able to maintain full reception around each station, with drops down to 3 of 5 bars between and stay on the 3G network for 95% of the trip, the main drop being at the entrance of the tunnel.

Overall the journey from Wynyard to Pennant Hills took 59 minutes. Had the connection been better, this would have made a viable route for regular travel. I'll have to investigate again when they convert the line to the being the Northern line.