Rail gauge in Australia

Rail gauge in Australia displays much variation, which is an ongoing problem for transportation on the continent.

The most used gauges are
* Irish gauge RailGauge|1600 4,017 km - mainly Victoria, some South Australia
* Standard gauge RailGauge|1435 17,678 km - mainly New South Wales and the interstate rail network
* Cape gauge RailGauge|1067 15,160 km - mainly Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania as well as some of South Australia.

History

Very little thought was given to wider national interests in the early years of the development of the colony-based rail networks. The most obvious issue to arise was determining a gauge for each network. Despite advice from London to adopt a uniform gauge, should the lines of the various colonies ever meet, different gauges were adopted in different colonies, and indeed within colonies, without reference to those of other colonies. This has caused problems ever since at the national level.

The issue was brought up as early as 1857, with NSW railway engineer John Whitton suggesting that the short railway then operating in New South Wales be altered from 1435 mm gauge to 1600 mm to conform with Victoria, but despite being supported by the NSW Railway Administration, he was ignored. [cite web
url=http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/380.html
title=The Conversion to Standard Gauge
work=Technology in Australia 1788-1988
page=page 380
publisher=www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au
accessdate=2008-07-20]

Attempts to fix the gauge problem are ongoing and by no means completely unified even as of 2005. For example, the Wolseley to Mt. Gambier line is isolated by gauge and of no operational value. The various governments and private interests squabble about who should pay to fix it.

In the 19th century, Australia's three mainland states adopted RailGauge|1435 standard gauge, but due to political differences, a break of gauge 30 years in the future was created. After instigating a change to RailGauge|1600 agreed to by all, New South Wales reverted to standard gauge while Victoria and South Australia stayed with broad gauge. Three different gauges are currently in wide use in Australia, and there is little prospect of full standardisation, though the main interstate routes are now standard gauge ["A Brief History of Standard Gauge in Australia" Brady I.A. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, May;June, 1971 pp98-120;131-139 ] .

Choice of broad gauge

Broad gauge is the principal railway gauge of RailGauge|1600 used by the railway network of the Australian state of Victoria. It was also used on on railway lines in South Australia, Victorian built lines in southern New South Wales, and a single line in Tasmania.

In origin, it is the Irish standard gauge as introduced to Australia by the Irish-born chief engineer of the Sydney Railway Company in New South Wales, F.W. Shields. When the state of Victoria began developing railways it received instructions from the British Colonial Office in London to build them to the same gauge as those in New South Wales. Unfortunately, and with long-lasting consequences for the railways of Australia, New South Wales failed to inform Victoria (and South Australia) that in the meantime Shields had resigned from the Sydney company and been replaced by a Scot, James Wallace, who overturned his predecessor's advice and ordered that all construction should be at the British standard gauge of RailGauge|sg. [ [http://www.adelaidereview.com.au/archives/2004_04/issuesandopinion_story7.shtml Article on Australian railway history in "The Adelaide Review"] ]

Australia's first railway was a 2½ mile (4 km) Victorian broad gauge line, opened in September 1854 between the Melbourne (or City) Terminus (on the site of Flinders Street Station) and Sandridge (now Port Melbourne). In 1987, the Port Melbourne railway line was closed, and replaced by a standard gauge light rail service, tram route #111, which ran from Port Melbourne to Exhibition Buildings (later replaced with tram route #109, which runs to Box Hill via the city).

As Victoria used a different gauge from New South Wales passengers were required to change trains at Albury. Limited Standard gauge railways now connect Melbourne with Sydney and Adelaide. The adoption of different railway gauges in Australia was a cause for arguments in the leadup to the Federation of Australia, and is still causing difficulties in funding and decision-making today.

Gauges used

Off the networks constructed by the various government railways, there have been a variety of rail gauges:
* Cane tramways, mainly in Queensland are RailGauge|610, but these carry very little through traffic so that the break-of-gauge is not a problem.
* Victoria had four short RailGauge|762 lines for general traffic
* Private timber tramways used a variety of gauges
* Private, isolated and heavy duty iron ore mining railways all use the standard gauge of RailGauge|1435
* Temporary lines at construction sites, such as the RailGauge|1067 gauge railways used for the development of the national capital at Canberra between 1913 and 1927, including the original Parliament House

Route km

*Broad gauge (Irish gauge)– RailGauge|1600 4,017 km - mainly Victoria, some South Australia
*Standard gauge – RailGauge|1435 17,678 km - mainly New South Wales and the interstate rail network.
*Narrow gauge (Cape gauge) – RailGauge|1067 15,160 km - mainly Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania as well as some of South Australia
*Narrow gauge – RailGauge|762 24 km (Victorian Railways narrow gauge)
*Narrow gauge – RailGauge|610 4,150 km (sugar cane tramways)
*Dual gauge – 281 km
*Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2002)

ee also

*Broad gauge

References

* Websterworld, "To Constitute a Nation" page 4, accessed on 19 April 2006