The Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra railway line is a commuter railway line in the eastern and southern suburbs of Sydney, Australia that is part of Sydney's CityRail rail network. Along with the South Coast Line, an intercity line that uses the Illawarra Line tracks out of Sydney, the line was constructed in the 1880s to Wollongong to take advantage of agricultural and mining potentials in the Illawarra area. In 1926, it became the first railway in New South Wales to run electric train services. Today the railway consists of three connected lines: the original Illawarra Line; a branch line from Sutherland to Cronulla (the Cronulla Line), which opened on a former tramway alignment in 1939; and an underground rail link between the Sydney CBD and Bondi Junction, the Eastern Suburbs Line, which opened in 1979. The railway currently operates as a relatively high-frequency independent line, and has been noted by the New South Wales Government as the most reliable line in Sydney.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1535: French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed along the St. Lawrence River and reached an Iroquois fort on the island now known as Montreal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Montreal)

1835: Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales, Texas encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia in the Battle of Gonzales, the first armed engagement of the Texas Revolution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales)

1928: Saint Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei, a worldwide organization of lay members of the Roman Catholic Church. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei)

1941: World War II: Nazi German forces began Operation Typhoon, an all-out offensive against Moscow, starting the three-month long Battle of Moscow. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow)

1992: In response to a prison riot, military police stormed the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, killing at least 100 prisoners. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_massacre)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

frolic: To romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frolic)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

If there must be a god in the house, must be,Saying things in the room and on the stair,Let him move as the sunlight moves on the floor,Or moonlight, silently, as Plato's ghostOr Aristotle's skeleton. Let him hang outHis stars on the wall. He must dwell quietly. -- Wallace Stevens -- (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens)