Skitube Alpine Railway

The Skitube Alpine Railway is an electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. [ [http://www.snowymountains.com.au/Attractions_and_Tours/query/Skitube_Bullocks_Flat_Landmark_or_Building Skitube Alpine Railway - Snowy Mountains] (en-au) Retrieved 9th August 2008] It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.

History

In the 1980s development of the Thredbo and Perisher Valley skifields was increasing, but the mountain road providing access to them was limited, and road and carparking expansion works were financially and environmentally unacceptable. In 1980 the National Parks and Wildlife Service proposed the establishment of a day visitors resort at Blue Cow Mountain, which increased the traffic demands. A number of transport modes were examined, including a funicular railway, chairlift, and an aerial gondola, but all were of limited capacity, effected by weather, and would scar the mountainsides.cite book | author= Geoffrey B. Churchman | title = Railway Electrification in Australia and New Zealand | publisher = IPL Books | year = 1995 | isbn = 0 646 06893 8 ]

A rack and pinion railway was found to be the best option, running mostly underground. The Perisher Skitube Joint Venture was established, with Transfield and Kumagai NSW (a division of Japanese firm Kumagai Gumi) holding a 49% share each. The main proponent of the scheme, Canberra engineer Ken Bilston, held a 2% share and was technical manger for the project. Feasibility studies commenced in 1982 for a double track railway on the assumption that the road would close in winter, but this was altered to a single track line with passing loops when the closure was ruled out.

Construction commenced in October 1984, with tunnelling beginning in June 1985. A consortium of Swiss and Australian companies provided the rolling stock, overhead wiring, sub-stations, communications and signalling. The line opened from Bullocks to Perisher on July 26, 1987 with the entire line officially opened on August 29, 1988.

Operations

The Swiss-designed railway provides easy access between the Alpine Way at Bullocks Flat and the Perisher Blue ski resort sites of Perisher Valley and Blue Cow Mountain. The Skitube passes through two tunnels and three stations, two of which are underground.

The line begins at Bullock Terminal at an altitude of 1125 metres and runs above ground for 2.6 km, crossing a three span 150 metre long steel truss bridge. A passing loop is located before entering the tunnel, which climbs on a 12.5% gradient to the Perisher Valley terminal. A provision for a second 300 metre long passing loop has been made inside the tunnel. To Blue Cow the line first drops downgrade, then climbs 1.3 km on a 3% gradient, then climbs at 12.5% to the terminus.

An off-peak schedule is run in early to late June and mid to late September, either side of the peak July-September ski season. Trains run between 5 a.m. and 1 a.m., allowing for "après-ski" activities or night skiing. The Bullocks Flat terminus has a large, three-sided station with extensive parking, a pass office, a ski and snowboard school, information desk, kiosk, souvenir shop, and ski and snowboard hire shop. This allows day trippers to get tickets and equipment and be loaded for the 10-minute journey to the Perisher Valley station, and a further 7 minutes to Blue Cow. It is adjacent to the Lake Crackenback Resort (accommodation).

Technical details

The majority of the railway is underground, comprising the Bilston and Blue Cow tunnels, 3.3 km and 2.6 km long respectively. The depth of the tunnels varies from between 4 m and 550 m, and their diameter between 5 m and 5.5 m.cite web
url=http://home.no.net/lotsberg/data/australia/skitube.html
title=Perisher Blue Skitube
work=The World's longest tunnel Page
author=Gregory Dower
publisher=home.no.net
accessdate=2008-08-16] 30 kg/m second hand rail from State Rail was used to build the line, and two electrical substations are fed with 33 kV power, and output 1.5 kV DC for the overhead wiring.

Each of the carriages, which typically make up a 4-carriage train, is 16.8 m long and 3.8 m wide, and can carry 225 passengers. This provides for the movement of around 4,500 people per hour.cite web
url=http://home.no.net/lotsberg/data/australia/skitube.html
title=Perisher Blue Skitube
work=The World's longest tunnel Page
author=Gregory Dower
publisher=home.no.net
accessdate=2008-08-16] Eleven passenger cars in total were acquired, 4 motor cars, 4 driving trailers and 3 non driving trailers. The motor cars each have four 301 kW traction motors, making them to most powerful rack railway vehicles in the world. The braking system is mixed regenerative and rheostatic. Two 'S' open wagons were acquired from the NSW State Rail Authority for freight traffic, and have been cut down to flat wagons.

The rack system Skitube operates on the Lamella System, which was developed by the Von Roll Company.

tations

*Bullocks Flat
*Perisher Valley
*Blue Cow

References

External links

* [http://www.perisherblue.com.au/winter/skitube/ Skitube official website]
* [http://www.perisherblue.com.au/winter/index.shtml Perisher Blue resort website]