More than 130 years of history will come to an end on Friday when the last train will stop at the Dunmore (Shellharbour) railway station.
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From Saturday trains will stop 400 metres up the line at the new Shellharbour Junction railway station - which in three years has created plenty of history of its own.
The new $39 million station will have 29 CCTV cameras and modern lighting, lifts, 105 parking spaces, active transport links and a new bus route.
However the new station won’t have any staff and for the short term at least it won’t have any toilets.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said ‘‘as has always been the case, stations across the network in lower patronage areas such as Shellharbour Junction and Dunmore are not permanently staffed’’.
‘‘Of course as population and patronage increases, we will continue to review customer needs at the station,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘The new station will include a toilet as part of finishing touches being added to the new facility in coming months.’’
Rail users across the network should be aware that the majority of the South Coast Line timetable will remain unchanged, however on four services each day, there will be minor adjustments of between one to four minutes to departure times at some stations.
‘‘NSW TrainLink staff will be at both Dunmore and Shellharbour Junction over the next week to assist customers with the transition,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘Posters will also go up at Dunmore Station to make sure customers know they can now use the new Shellharbour Junction station.’’
Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian will visit on Friday to unveil a plaque for the new station that was initially to be named Flinders under the former Labor Government, before Shell Cove was proposed by the Liberal Government.
Eventually both names were ruled out by the Geographical Names Board as the station is officially located in Dunmore
After 18 months of passionate debate over the name, Shellharbour Junction was proposed by Transport for NSW and put out for community consultation by the GNB.
However the consultation process was labelled ‘‘a sham’’ after Shellharbour Junction signs appeared on the platforms prior to a GNB meeting to discuss submissions on the name.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward said his focus was on delivering a station first proposed by the Labor Government in 2001.
He said the new station ‘‘will absolutely have toilets’’.
Mr Ward said the new station benefits from improved disability access, something that is a major problem at the old Dunmore station.
Shellharbour MP Anna Watson said the State Government was refusing to publicly release submissions lodged by the community with the Geographical Names Board in regards to the naming of the Shellharbour Junction station.
Ms Watson said the Minister for Finance and Services Dominic Perrottet told Parliament that the thirty four community submissions will remain secret and not be publicly released.
“Most people in the Shellharbour community still think Shellharbour Junction is a stupid name, but it won’t change,’’ Ms Watson said.
“Why won’t the Government just release the submissions so people can see what other name options were actually proposed.
“I simply don’t understand the reason for all the secrecy unless the submissions clearly indicate that the Government’s preference was rejected by the community,’’ she said.