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Rail transport in Australia involves a number of
narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...
s. In some states they formed the core statewide network, but in the others they were either a few government branch lines, or privately owned and operated branch lines, often for mining, logging or industrial use. Prior to becoming an independent unified country in 1901, each of the six British colonies in Australia was responsible for rail transport infrastructure. Of the six colonies, only three (
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
,
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, and
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
) opted for narrow gauge railways. The other colonies (later states) opted for either standard-gauge or
broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
railways, maintaining only limited narrow-gauge rail lines, except for
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, which wavered between narrow and broad. As a result of this legacy, Australian railways are a confusing mix of all three gauges. Over time most of the mainland lines of whatever gauge linked up with inconvenient break-of-gauge stations where they met, including the infamous Albury railway station on the
Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...
Wodonga Wodonga (Pallanganmiddang language, Waywurru: ''Wordonga'') is a city on the Victoria (Australia), Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of ...
line from
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
to
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. Some lines remained isolated because they were cut off by long stretches of desert.


By state


Queensland

The massive narrow-gauge coal trains of the Queensland Railway with 100 wagons and 2 midtrain electric locomotives show what is possible with narrow gauge with modern equipment and tracklaying techniques. In 1865, the brief given to Queensland Railways was to build a semi-mountainous line in very sparsely populated territory, and it chose light rails, sharp curves, a small loading-gauge, light engines and rolling stock, 32 km/h speeds to make a limited budget go a long way. A clever salesman convinced the Queensland government that a narrow gauge would save money, and do the job for a hundred years. Queensland Railways was the first mainline narrow-gauge railway in the world. Its tracks would eventually extend to around 9000 km. In the intervening century, the rails have been replaced with heavier rails, there are now concrete sleepers and colour light signals, sharp curves have been straightened, tunnels have been opened out. The one thing that hasn't changed is the narrow gauge, even though the rest of the country is converting its main lines to the standard gauge . Queensland Rail also operates the iconic
QR Tilt Train The Tilt Train is the name for two similar high-speed tilting train services, one Electric Tilt Train, electric and the other Diesel Tilt Train, diesel, operated by Queensland Rail. They run on the North Coast railway line, Queensland, North Co ...
, with a recommended maximum speed of 165 km/h. This train currently holds the Australian Railway Speed Record of 210.7 km/h. Dual gauge has been added to give access from the interstate standard-gauge line to the
Port of Brisbane Port of Brisbane is the shipping port and coastal suburb of the City of Brisbane, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. In the , Port of Brisbane had no residents living in the suburb. The port is the largest in the state of Queensland. ...
. Dual gauge is also proposed to convert the standard-gauge interstate line for use by narrow-gauge commuter trains. Queensland also has extensive sugar cane tramways of gauge. These cane tramways sometimes use second-hand standard-gauge shunting locomotives suitably regauged. The cane trams regularly haul over 500 tonnes of raw cane at a time, and because there are no continuous brakes, they may have a radio-controlled brake van coupled to the rear. To avoid speed restriction where some cane trams cross the main line, several of these crossings have been converted to
drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...
s.


Tasmania

The first railway in the island state of Tasmania was
broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
, but following the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, a third rail was fitted, to allow conversion to narrow gauge. The state's rail network is now entirely narrow gauge.


South Australia

The first railways in this state were broad gauge including some lightweight horse-drawn lines. But following the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, several narrow-gauge lines were started. Because of the geography of the state with deep gulfs of the ocean, the various narrow-gauge lines were isolated from each other to begin with. In the 1920s several narrow gauge lines were converted to broad gauge. The South Eastern narrow gauge lines were converted to broad gauge in the 1950s, with steel sleepers able to be converted to standard gauge at a later date if required. The privately owned iron ore mines at Iron Knob and Iron Baron are connected to the steel works at Whyalla by an isolated narrow-gauge line.


Western Australia

Inspired by the success of the narrow gauge in Queensland, Western Australia adopted the same gauge. In the capital of
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, there was the only narrow-gauge tramway network (of any considerable extent) on mainland Australia. The final portion was closed in 1958.


Northern Territory

The Northern Territory adopted narrow gauge when it was still part of South Australia, and a north–south transcontinental line was planned from Adelaide to Darwin in the 1870s. The Central Australia Railway was built northwards from 1878, reaching
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
in 1929, and closed in 1980 when a parallel standard-gauge railway was built. The North Australia Railway was constructed southwards from Darwin to Birdum, opening in 1889 and closing in 1976. The 3000 km standard-gauge Adelaide–Darwin railway opened in 2004. Because there are no tunnels or narrow bridges on the old narrow-gauge line, the line received a lot of second-hand standard-gauge rolling stock, this rolling stock being noticeably larger than the original narrow-gauge wagons and carriages.


New South Wales

The railways of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
used standard gauge from the beginning. An exception was at
Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
where the large silver-lead mine is only 30 km from the South Australian border, but separated by hundreds of kilometres of desert from the main NSW standard-gauge railway system. As a result, in 1888 the
Silverton Tramway The Silverton Tramway was a 58-kilometre-long railway line running from Cockburn on the South Australian state border to Broken Hill in New South Wales. Operating between 1888 and 1970, it served the mines in Broken Hill, and formed the lin ...
was opened between the mines and the
South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Austr ...
system, the line lasting until gauge standardisation bypassed the line in 1970.


Victoria

Most railway lines in Victoria were built to the broad gauge. However four
common carrier A common carrier in common law countries (corresponding to a public carrier in some civil law systems,Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000 "Civil-law public carrier" from "carriage of goods" usually called simply a ''carrier'') is a person or compan ...
lines Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...
were built to the narrow gauge standard, to serve local
farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
and
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
communities. There was also widespread usage of narrow-gauge forestry railways and tramways. Sections of two lines (Belgrave to Gembrook and Thomson to Walhalla) have been restored as tourist railways. The Puffing Billy Railway is maintained and operated by volunteers as a steam-hauled preserved railway and tourist attraction. The last of the four narrow-gauge railways to open, the Moe to Walhalla line in Gippsland, which was opened in 1910 and then closed in 1954, has been partially reopened from Thomson Station into Walhalla in recent years as the
Walhalla Goldfields Railway The Walhalla Goldfields Railway is a narrow gauge tourist railway located in the Thomson River and Stringers Creek valleys in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, near the former gold-mining town and tourist destination of Walhalla. History ...
. Because the Puffing Billy Railway has nearly all of the remaining locomotives and rolling stock known to exist from the four NG lines, this line has had to modify rolling stock from elsewhere or build new, but non-original style, rolling stock. In addition to the main rail network of the Victorian Railways and successors, a number of narrow-gauge private railways and tramways have also existed for logging and mining purposes. These included the
Yallourn 900mm Railway The Yallourn 900 mm railway was a narrow gauge railway operated by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. The railway was built for the haulage of brown coal and overburden between the Yall ...
in the Latrobe Valley open cut coal mines, the
Fyansford Cement Works Railway The Fyansford Cement Works Railway was an industrial railway near Geelong, Australia, built by the Australian Portland Cement Company to carry limestone from its quarry to its cement works at Fyansford. The railway was notable for including a ...
near
Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
, the Tyers Valley Tramway at
Mount Baw Baw Mount Baw Baw is a mountain summit on the Baw-Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, located in Victoria, Australia. The name is from the Woiwurrung language spoken by Eastern Kulin people. It is of uncertain meaning, but possibly signifies, ...
, and the Powelltown Tramway from
Yarra Junction Yarra Junction is a town in Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Yarra Junction recorded a population of 2,875 at the . The township sits at the ...
. Most logging tramways operated in the
Otway Ranges The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...
, Gippsland, and the inner east of the Great Dividing Range; primarily between the 1850s and the 1950s, with only one surviving into the 1960s. They were primarily of or gauge, with , , , and variants also used.


References

{{Australian rail