The Sydney–Brisbane railway corridor consists of the 987-kilometre (613-mile) long 1435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard-gauge main line between the Australian state capitals of Brisbane (Queensland) and Sydney (New South Wales), and the lines immediately connected to it.[1]
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Description
editThe main line consists of:
- the 195-kilometre (121 mi) Main North Line from Sydney Central station to Telarah station, in Maitland, and
- the 792-kilometre (492 mi) North Coast line from Telarah to Roma Street station, Brisbane.
Freight trains operate along the entire corridor, as does a daily (each way) XPT passenger service, in addition to a service to Casino.
History
editOriginally the corridor consisted of 1435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge track in New South Wales and 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge track in Queensland, which met at a break-of-gauge station at Wallangarra. In 1930 the NSW North Coast line was extended from Casino to Brisbane making through services possible,[2][3] using a rail ferry for the river crossing in Grafton until the Grafton Bridge opened in 1932.[4] The superseded Main Northern railway line, which went to Wallangarra, now terminates near Armidale.
Gallery
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| A daily XPT service between Sydney and Brisbane travels the full 987 kilometres (613 miles) length of the corridor | The northbound Brisbane Limited at Yeerongpilly in 1987 was locomotive-hauled | |||
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| A southbound goods train in 1987 near Kyogle, where until 1930 passengers and freight alike had to change between standard gauge (NSW) and narrow gauge (Qld) | Staff operation, in which tokens authorizing access to track sections are physically exchanged, has now been superseded by Centralised traffic control in the corridor |
See also
edit- Northern Sydney Freight Corridor – a package of capacity improvements between Sydney and Newcastle
References
editCitations
edit- ^ "AusLink Network Corridors". AusLink. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ "History of Rail in Australia". Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ "North Coast Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
- ^ "Additional Crossing of the Clarence River – Feasibility Study Report" (PDF). Roads & Traffic Authority. February 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2008. p1
Sources
edit- Avery, Rod (2006). Freight Across the Nation: The Australian Superfreighter Experience. Brisbane: Copyright Publishing Co. ISBN 1876344474.