Australia
The first railway in Australia opened in 1855 between Sydney and Parramatta,
a distance of 14 miles (22.5km). It was built to standard gauge (1435mm), as were
most subsequent railways in New South Wales. However, because of the nature of
Australia at that time, with isolated communities along the coast seeing little
need of communication between them, standardization throughout the nation was
not seen as essential and a variety of gauges sprang up elsewhere. 3ft 6in
(1067mm) was quite commonly used, while the state of Victoria opted for a
gauge of 5ft 3in (1600mm). When the famous Transcontinental Railway first
opened in 1917, no fewer than 8 changes of gauge were required for a journey
from Brisbane to Perth.
Most modern development has been to standard gauge, and a few of the older
lines have been regauged to this. A noteworthy recent opening is the Ghan line
connecting Adelaide and Darwin. This is essentially an entirely new line,
although most of its southern section follows the route of a former 3ft 6in
(1067mm) gauge line which ran as far as Alice Springs in the very heart of
thte country. Passenger trains first reached Darwin from the south in 2004.
Main line and suburban railways
- Rail Australia single
point source of tickets and information for all Australia's major railway operations
- Queensland Rail major operator in Queensland
- V/Line major operator in Victoria
- RailCorp major operator in New South Wales
and the Australian Capital Territory, including:
- CountryLink long distance services
- CityRail local and suburban services
in the Sydney and Newcastle areas
- Transwa long distance services in
Western Australia
- Transperth Perth local services
- New MetroRail organisation responsible
for building extensions to the Transperth network
- Connex Melbourne local services
in the Melbourne area
- Australian Railroad Group freight operator in
Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory. Also owns
Westnet Rail, the rail infrastructure in Western Australia
- Pacific National freight
operator in Queensland and Tasmania, also provides various other services to the railway
industry.
Dedicated freight railways
- Pilbara Railway extensive rail network in the northern part of Western Australia, a joint
venture of Hamersley Iron and Robe River. It is used exclusively for the transportation of iron
ore from mines to the coastal ports. (No website located at present for the railway itself,
but both company websites have some details)
- Newman Railway and Yarrie Railway railways in the northern part of Western Australia
owned by BHP Billiton Iron Ore. They are used exclusively for the
transportation of iron ore from mines to the coastal port. (No website located at present
for the railway itself, but the company website has some details)
Urban trains and trams
These are covered in detail on a separate page
