Sydney–Perth rail corridor
Australia's east–west rail corridor is a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge line that runs for 4,352 kilometres (2,704 mi) across Australia from Sydney, New South Wales, to Perth, Western Australia.[1][2]
The Indian Pacific long-distance passenger train operates along the entire route[3][note 1] and The Ghan along part of it.[4] A number of local passenger services operate at each end.
The corridor is heavily trafficked by freight trains. As of 2008[update],[needs update] the rail corridor carried 81 per cent of land freight between the eastern states and Perth, up from 60 per cent in 1996–97;[5] and in November 2007, 3.46 billion gross tonne-kilometres of freight was carried, a record at the time.[6]
As of 2020[update], major freight operators on the corridor include Pacific National, Aurizon, and SCT Logistics.
Historically, as a consequence of differing choices of gauges by three state governments, passengers and freight on the east–west journey had to be trans-shipped at Broken Hill, Port Pirie, and Kalgoorlie. These stations were on the following lines (from east to west):
- the New South Wales Government's standard-gauge Sydney–Broken Hill line, opened in 1927[7]
- the Silverton Tramway Company's short narrow-gauge line from Broken Hill to Cockburn, opened in 1888[8]
- the South Australian Government's narrow-gauge Cockburn–Port Pirie line, completed in 1888[9]: 27
- the Australian federal government's standard-gauge Port Pirie–Port Augusta line, opened in 1938,[9]: 27 and its contiguous standard-gauge Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917 as a project of Australia's federation[10]
- the Western Australian Government's narrow-gauge Eastern Goldfields Railway from Kalgoorlie to Perth, opened in 1897.[11]
Notes
References
- ^ "Trans-Australian Railway". National Museum of Australia. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ "Another record East West haul" (PDF). Links. Australian Rail Track Corporation. November 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
- ^ "Indian Pacific – Sydney to Perth". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. Great Southern Rail Limited. April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- ^ "The Ghan". Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions. Great Southern Rail Limited. April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- ^ "ARTC – News – NSW Lease 2004 Summary". artc.com.au. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
- ^ "ARTC – East West Rail Freight Record Tumbles". artc.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 October 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
- ^ "Broken Hill line". NSWrail.net. 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ Hon. J.B.M. Fuller, Minister for Decentralisation and Development (22 February 1972). "Silverton Tramway Land Vesting Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). New South Wales: Legislative Council. p. 4347.
- ^ a b "South Australia's mixed gauge muddle" (PDF). National Railway Museum [South Australia]. National Railway Museum. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ "The last link". The West Australian. Vol. XXXIII, no. 4850. (Original, Perth. Digital reproduction, Canberra: National Library of Australia – Trove digital newspaper archive). 18 October 1917. p. 4. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ Newland, Andrew; Quinlan, Howard (2000). Australian Railway Routes 1854–2000. Redfern: Australian Railway Historical Society. pp. 63, 67. ISBN 9780909650490.
Bibliography
- Avery, Rod (2006). Freight Across the Nation: The Australian Superfreighter Experience. Brisbane: Copyright Publishing Co. ISBN 1876344474.