Rail transport in Australia is a component of the Australian transport system. Australian railways, unlike those in North America for example, are not all on the same track gauge. In the mid-19th century, when Australia consisted of six colonies, decisions were made with little concern for the consequences when the respective railways would be joined up. They were built to three track gauges: broad gauge, standard gauge, and narrow gauge. Despite standardising the rail gauge between the mainland capital cities, completed only in 1982, many of the consequences of the 19th-century folly remain and to a large extent, Australian railways remain state-based.
As delineated in the infobox, total route-kilometres of these gauges were respectively about 8%, 56% and 35% of the grand total of . Less than 1% was dual gauge and about 11% was electrified. About 87% of the network is single-tracked. Additionally, about of narrow-gauge lines support the sugar-cane industry, mainly in the state of Queensland.
Except for a small number of private railways, including the very heavy mineral railways in the north of Western Australia, most "below-rail" infrastructure is government-owned, either at the state or federal level. The federal government is also involved in formation of national policies and provides funding for national projects.
National issues Uniform gauge
Very little thought was given in the early years of the development of the colony-based rail networks of Australia-wide interests. The most obvious issue to arise was determining a track gauge. Despite advice from London to adopt a uniform gauge, should the lines of the various colonies ever meet, gauges were adopted in different colonies, and indeed within colonies, without reference to those of other colonies. This has caused problems ever since.
Attempts to fix the gauge problem are by no means complete.
Electrification
With the electrification of suburban networks, which began in 1919, a consistent electric rail traction standard was not adopted. Electrification began in Melbourne in 1919 using 1500 V DC. Sydney's lines were electrified from 1926 using 1500 V DC, Brisbane's from 1979 using 25 kV AC, and Perth's from 1992 using 25 kV AC. There has also been extensive non-urban electrification in Queensland using 25 kV AC, mainly during the 1980s for the coal routes. From 2014 Adelaide's lines are being gradually electrified at 25 kV AC. 25 kV AC voltage has now become the international standard.IEC 60850:2000 – "Railway Applications. Supply voltages of traction systems"
History
The first railways in Australia were built by private companies, based in the then colonies of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
The first railway was privately owned and operated and commissioned by the Australian Agricultural Company in Newcastle in 1831, a cast-iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway servicing A Pit coal mine. The first steam-powered line opened in Victoria in 1854. The four km long Flinders Street to Sandridge line was opened by the Melbourne & Hobson's Bay Railway Company at the height of the Victorian gold rush.
In these early years there was very little thought of Australia-wide interests in developing the colony-based networks. The most obvious issue to arise was determining a uniform gauge for the continent. Despite advice from London to adopt a uniform gauge, should the lines of the various colonies ever meet, gauges were adopted in different colonies, and indeed within colonies, without reference to those of other colonies. This example has caused problems ever since at the national level.
In the 1890s, the establishment of an Australian Federation from the six colonies was debated. One of the points of discussion was the extent that railways would be a federal responsibility. A vote to make it so was lost narrowly; instead the new constitution allowed "the acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms arranged between the Commonwealth and the State" (Section 51 xxxiii) and "railway construction and extension in any State with the consent of that State" (Section 51 xxxiv). However, the Australian Government is free to provide funding to the states for rail upgrading projects under Section 96 ("the Parliament may grant financial assistance to any State on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks fit").
Suburban electrification began in Melbourne in 1919 (1500 V DC). Sydney's lines were electrified from 1926 (1500 V DC), Brisbane's from 1979 (25 kV AC), and Perth's from 1992 (25 kV AC). Mainline electrification was first carried out in Victoria in 1954, closely followed by New South Wales which continued to expand their network. These networks have fallen into decline, in contrast to Queensland where 25 kV AC equipment was introduced from the 1980s for coal traffic.
Diesel locomotives were introduced to Australian railways from the early 1950s. Most units were of local design and construction, using imported British or American technology and power equipment. The three major firms were Clyde Engineering partnered with GM-EMD, Goninan with General Electric, and AE Goodwin (later Comeng) with the American Locomotive Company (Alco). The major British company was English Electric; Swiss firm Sulzer also supplied some equipment. This continues today, with Downer Rail and UGL Rail the modern incarnations of Clyde and Goninan respectively.
Milestones
Note: In the list below, narrow gauge is , standard gauge is and broad gauge is . 1831 – Newcastle, New South Wales – Australia's first "railed way" opened. Coal skips descended by gravity down a funicular with a 17° slope for , then were moved for another along a near-horizontal bridge to an Australian Agricultural Company staithe by horses and, for some time, by convicts. Short cast-iron fishbelly rails were used. 1836 – Tasmania, Port Arthur penal settlement to Taranna, about long – Australia's first "railed way" to haul passengers and general freight (not timetabled), pushed by convicts, opened. Rails were timber. 1853 – South Australia, Goolwa to Port Elliot railway, long – first full-scale railway in Australia for public conveyance of passengers (timetabled) and general freight opened. Infrastructure was that of a main-line railway but instead of using mechanical traction, trains were horse-drawn as an economy measure. It was the first government-owned railway in the British Empire. 1854 – Victoria, Melbourne to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne) railway, long – first full-scale public railway (in the modern sense, using steam locomotion) opened. 1855 – New South Wales – standard gauge steam powered railway from Sydney to Parramatta opened. 1856 – South Australia, Adelaide to Port Adelaide broad-gauge railway opened. 1865 – Queensland – narrow gauge Ipswich to Bigges Camp (renamed Grandchester in honour of occasion) on the way to Toowoomba railway opened, first narrow gauge main line in the world.Kerr, J. 'Triumph of Narrow Gauge' Boolarong Publications 1990 1871 – Tasmania – Deloraine to Launceston railway opened as broad gauge, converted to narrow gauge in 1888 1879 – Western Australia – narrow gauge Geraldton to Northampton railway opened 1883 – Railways of New South Wales and Victoria meet at Albury 1887 – Railways of Victoria and South Australia meet at Serviceton 1888 – Railways of New South Wales and Queensland meet at Wallangara 1889 – Western Australia's first land grant railway opened, the narrow gauge Great Southern Railway, completed from Beverley to Albany, linking Perth to the colony's only deep-water port 1889 – Northern Territory – narrow gauge Darwin to Pine Creek railway opened 1891 – Western Australia – first sections of narrow gauge privately funded land grant Midland Railway opened, completed from Midland Junction to Walkaway in 1894. 1915 – Standard gauge Canberra to Queanbeyan railway opened 1917 – Standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway completed between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta 1919 – Railways of New South Wales and South Australia meet at Broken Hill with break-of-gauge 1919 – First electric suburban trains run in Melbourne 1924 – Final section of North Coast line opens, linking Cairns to the rest of the Australian railway system 1925 – Great White Train is created to promote industry and tours in New South Wales. 1930 – Standard gauge Sydney–Brisbane railway completed with trains crossing the Clarence River on a train ferry until the opening of a bridge at Grafton in 1932. 1937 – Trans-Australian Railway extended to Port Pirie Junction and the broad gauge railway from Adelaide to Redhill extended to Port Pirie Ellen Street 1954 – first main line electrification, from Dandenong to Traralgon in Victoria 1962 – Albury to Melbourne standard gauge railway opened, completing the Sydney–Melbourne railway 1966 – Western Australia's first private standard gauge railway opened – the Goldsworthy railway line transported iron ore 112 km from Mount Goldsworthy mine to Port Hedland 1968 – Kalgoorlie to Perth standard gauge railway opened 1969 – Broken Hill to Port Pirie standard gauge railway opened, completing the Sydney–Perth railway 1980 – Tarcoola to Alice Springs standard gauge railway opened 1982 – Adelaide to Crystal Brook standard gauge railway opened 1989 – Electrification of the final section of the Brisbane-Rockhampton line, completing a ~2,100 km electrified network 1995 – Melbourne–Adelaide railway standard gauge railway completed 2004 – Adelaide–Darwin railway standard gauge railway completed.
Government funding
While Australian federal governments have provided substantial funding for the upgrading of roads, since the 1920s they have not regularly funded investment in railways except for their own railway, the Commonwealth Railways, later Australian National Railways, which was privatised in 1997. They have considered the funding of railways owned by State Governments to be a State responsibility.
Nevertheless, Australian governments have made loans to the states for gauge standardisation projects from the 1920s to the 1970s. From the 1970s to 1996, the Australian Government has provided some grant funding to the States for rail projects, particularly the Keating Government's One Nation program, announced in 1992, which was notable for standardising the Adelaide to Melbourne line in 1995. Significant government funding was also made available for the Alice Springs to Darwin line, opened in 2004. Substantial funding is now being made available for freight railways through the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the AusLink land transport funding program.
Australian Rail Track Corporation
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is a federal government owned corporation established in 1997 that owns, leases, maintains and controls the majority of main line standard gauge railway lines on the mainland of Australia, known as the Designated Interstate Rail Network (DIRN).
In 2003 the Australian and New South Wales Governments agreed that ARTC would lease the NSW interstate and Hunter Valley networks for 60 years. As part of this agreement, ARTC agreed to a $872 million investment programme on the interstate rail network. The funding sources for the investment included an Australian Government equity injection into ARTC of $143 million and a funding contribution of almost $62 million by the New South Wales Government.
AusLink Under the AusLink program introduced in July 2004, the Australian Government has introduced the opportunity for rail to gain access to funds on a similar basis to that of roads. AusLink established a defined national network (superseding the former National Highway system) of important road and rail infrastructure links and their intermodal connections.