In the shadow of the Port Kembla steelworks, a train platform stands in near-permanent silence. Lysaghts Train Station, a relic of the Illawarra's industrial heyday, has become the region's quietest rail stop, with fewer than 50 passengers recorded using it each month.
From Bustling Hub to Ghost Platform
Opened in 1941 and named after steel manufacturer John Lysaght, the station was purpose-built to serve the workforce of the sprawling steelworks. For decades, it thrummed with activity. Former Sydney Trains employee Brad Jones, who worked for the organisation for 48 years, recalls a very different scene in the 1980s.
"When I was a station assistant, there was one afternoon shift we used to go down to Lysaghts," Mr Jones said. "There used to be a small ticket box there, and we would open that up and actually sell tickets for the shift workers. It was very, very busy."
A Station on Request
Today, the contrast could not be starker. Official data from the Transport Open Data Hub does not even report exact numbers for stations with fewer than 50 monthly entries and exits, placing Lysaghts in this ultra-quiet category. Trains now only stop at the station upon request, a policy it shares in the region only with Kembla Grange station, which operates solely on weekends and race days.
The station's isolation is compounded by its location within the BlueScope steelworks precinct. Access gates require a BlueScope pass to enter or exit, making it a private world within the public transport network. The steady industrial hum is now broken more often by BlueScope's own private trains on a parallel track than by a stopping passenger service.
The Illawarra's Rail Landscape
The decline of Lysaghts highlights a dramatic split in regional rail usage. In November 2025, Wollongong Station was the Illawarra's busiest, with over 80,000 entries and exits. The terminus at Kiama recorded over 25,000, making it the fourth busiest.
At the other end of the scale, stations like Port Kembla North (615), Coalcliffe (622), and Cringila (656) see modest traffic. Yet, they are veritable hubs compared to Lysaghts, whose figures suggest an average of fewer than two passengers per day, with the potential for some days seeing no users at all.
This paints a vivid picture of a transport asset frozen in time, a quiet platform where new benches await passengers who rarely, if ever, come, while the industry it was built to serve continues its work just metres away.
