and connected with the Illawarra line at Sutherland 1956 – Circular Quay station opened completing the City Circle 1979 – Eastern Suburbs railway completed to Bondi Junction 1987 – East Hills – Glenfield line opened 1996 – Y-link built between Harris Park and Merrylands allowing the introduction of Cumberland line services from Campbelltown to Blacktown 1998 – line from Flemington and Lidcombe to Olympic Park. 2000 – line to Sydney Airport and Wolli Creek built as a public-private partnership by the Airport Link Company 2009 – Epping to Chatswood railway line opened 2015 – South West Rail Link opened 2019 – Sydney Metro Northwest opened Organisation The rail network in the metropolitan area of Sydney is owned, maintained and operated by Transport Asset Holding Entity, a NSW State Government owned corporation. Third party access to their tracks by other freight operators is allowed under an open-access arrangement. Track outside the Sydney metropolitan area is operated and maintained by the Australian Rail Track Corporation. Suburban passenger trains within Sydney are operated by Sydney Trains and long-distance trains that run through Sydney are operated by NSW TrainLink. RailCorp was formed on 1 January 2004 by the merger of the State Rail Authority (SRA) and the metropolitan functions of the Rail Infrastructure Corporation (RIC). Until 1972, railways in NSW were operated by the Department of Railways New South Wales until this department was replaced by the Public Transport Commission (PTC), which was also responsible for bus and ferry services. In 1980 the PTC was broken up into the SRA, responsible for rail services, and the Urban Transit Authority (UTA), responsible for bus and ferry services. The UTA later became the State Transit Authority in 1989. In 2001, the SRA had its 'above track' operations separated from its track ownership and maintenance operations. The track maintenance operations and track ownership were moved to the new RIC. However this separation into a horizontally operated rail system was criticised for the passing of blame for rail delays and accidents between authorities, and in 2004 railways in Sydney became a vertically operated system again with the creation of RailCorp, a fusion of the SRA and the urban sections of the RIC. In July 2013, RailCorp was reduced to become the owner of the infrastructure and rolling stock, with the service provision that it operated under the CityRail and CountryLink brands transferred to Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink.