The first railway in the district was a privately operated track between Mount Kembla and Port Kembla, opened in 1882 to bring coal to port. In 1912, the NSW Government Railways assumed control of the line east of Unanderra. The government railway from Clifton to North Kiama opened in 1887 and included a single-platform Unanderra Station complete with weatherboard platform building and stationmaster's residence. PremierGeorge Fullerturned the first sod for the IllawarraMountain Railway – now known as the Unanderra–Moss Vale line – at Unanderra on 26 June 1925. Fuller, whose family owned much of the Shellharbour district, took a keen interest in the development of the railways in his native Illawarra region. Despite costs doubling to £3 million, the line opened in August 1932, channelling freight traffic from the Southern Tablelands and Riverina regions through Unanderra and on to Port Kembla. To accommodate the increased traffic, the line was expanded to three tracks through the town, and the station became an island platform. Between 1983 and 1988, electrical masts were installed along a section of the Moss Vale line near Unanderra in preparation for the subsequently cancelled Maldon–Dombarton rail link. For further history see Unanderra–Moss Vale railway line. The line through Unanderra was electrified in 1993. In 2009, the NSW Government announced that it would install lifts at Unanderra Station at a cost of $11.4 million. The project stalled the following year after it was discovered that the plans had been approved without a proper utilities search at the site: water, gas and signal cables would need to be relocated to accommodate the lift shafts, at an additional cost of $5 million. By that stage, the platform building had been replaced and the platforms resurfaced. Following a change of government in 2011, the project was cancelled in favour of accessibility projects at Albion Park, Dapto and Gerringong; and a new station at Flinders. In response to criticism from the Opposition, the new transport minister simply noted that "unfortunately, commitments made by Labor when in government did not come to fruition." The absence of a lift has received significant local media coverage since that time. Electronic ticketing, in the form of the Opal smartcard system, arrived at the station in 2014.
Platforms and services
Unanderra has one island platform with two side faces. It is serviced by NSW TrainLinkSouth Coast line services travelling between Sydney Central, Bondi Junction and Kiama. Unlike other New South Wales stations, Platform 2 is for Sydney bound services, with trains normally operating on the right-hand side of the platform rather than the left. Platform 1 is on the western side while Platform 2 is on the eastern side.
