The State Rail Authority, a former

statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being Primary and secondary legislation, empowered or deleg ...

of the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state 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 ...

from July 1980 until December 2003.

History

The ''Transport Authorities Act 1980'' separated the functions of the

Public Transport Commission The Public Transport Commission (PTC) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales responsible for the provision of rail, bus and ferry services in New South Wales, Australia from October 1972 until June 1980. Upon dissolution, responsi ...

(formerly responsible for all public transport) and established the State Rail Authority. The State Rail Authority assumed responsibility for trains, while the

Urban Transit Authority The Urban Transit Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, was responsible for the operation and maintenance of buses and ferries in Sydney and Newcastle from July 1980 until January 1989. History The Urban ...

responsibility for buses and ferries. In July 1982 a new colour scheme developed by Phil Belbin of red, yellow, orange and white was unveiled, which was commonly referred to as the "candy colours". The ''L7'' logo used by the Public Transport Commission was retained, albeit with the dark and light blue replaced with red and orange. Around this time, they also gave

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

s and

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

to passengers.

Electrification

During its tenure the State Rail Authority completed a number of electrification projects: *

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

–

Wyong Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area. Hist ...

April 1982 *Wyong –

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

June 1984 *

Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

–

Port Kembla A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

February 1986 * Riverstone –

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

August 1991 * Coniston –

Dapto Dapto is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western side of Lake Illawarra and covering an area 7.15 square kilometres in size. As at the , the suburb had a population of 10,730. History ...

January 1993

Rolling Stock

The State Rail Authority introduced new 80 Class, 81 Class and 86 Class locomotives used on both freight and country passenger services, K set, C set, Tangara,

Millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

and V set double deck electric passenger trains and the XPT. It also placed an order for the 82 Class and 90 Class locomotives that were delivered to FreightRail in 1994. A fleet of Denning and

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

coaches was purchased to replace withdrawn country rail services.

Booz Allen Hamilton review and restructure

44218 7317 broadmeadow loco roundhouse 1990

Following the election of the Greiner State Government in March 1988, consultants

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

were commissioned to prepare a report into NSW rail services. In November 1988, before the report was complete, the ''

North Coast Overnight Express The North Coast Overnight Express was an Australian passenger train operated by the State Rail Authority from July 1982 until November 1988. It operated from Sydney via the North Coast line to Murwillumbah. It was formed of air-conditioned H ...

'' to Grafton, the ''

Northern Mail The Northern Mail was an Australian passenger train that ran from Sydney to Armidale, Glen Innes, Tenterfield and Moree from the 1870s until November 1988. The service ran overnight from Sydney via the Main North line to Werris Creek where t ...

'' to Moree and

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a ...

, the Bathurst day train, the '' Western Mail'' to

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

and the ''

Canberra Monaro Express The Canberra Monaro Express was a passenger train operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between Sydney, Canberra and Cooma from May 1955 until September 1988. It was formed by two four-carriage DEB railcar sets and replaced the ...

'' to

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a ...

all ceased. After receiving the Booz Allen Hamilton report, the government released its response in July 1989 under the title ''CountryLink 2000''. It was announced the number of staff employed on country rail operations would fall from 18,000 to 10,000, including the withdrawal of staff from 94 country railway stations and the Nyngan – Bourke, Queanbeyan – Cooma and Glen Innes – Wallangarra lines would close. Several country passenger services ceased over the next few years including the ''

Silver City Comet The Silver City Comet was a train service that operated from September 1937 until November 1989 between Parkes and Broken Hill in western New South Wales. It was the first air-conditioned train in Australia. Design The original engines were b ...

'', ''

Northern Tablelands Express The Northern Tablelands Express is a passenger train service in Australia operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors since June 1941. History The ''Northern Tablelands Express'' has operated from Sydney via the Main ...

'', '' Canberra XPT'', ''

Brisbane Limited The Brisbane Limited was an Australian passenger train operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between Sydney and Brisbane from 1888 until February 1990. History The Brisbane Limited originally operated from Sydney via the Main ...

'', '' Pacific Coast Motorail'', ''

South Coast Daylight Express The South Coast Daylight Express was a limited stops passenger train operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors between Sydney and Bomaderry from 1933 until January 1991. History After departing Sydney Central it tra ...

'', ''

Intercapital Daylight The Inter-Capital Daylight was a passenger train that operated between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne from March 1956 until August 1991. History Until April 1962, the line between Sydney and Albury was of a different gau ...

'' and '' Sydney/Melbourne Express'' These were replaced either by XPT sets, EMU/DMU sets or coaches. Coach services which had been operated by the State Rail Authority's own fleet were contracted out to private operators. The report had recommended closing all country passenger services as they were judged unviable, however this was not politically acceptable. The State Rail Authority was divided into business units: *

CityRail CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2003 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities in New South Wales, Australi ...

: responsible for suburban and interurban passenger services *

CountryLink CountryLink was a passenger rail and road service brand that operated in regional areas New South Wales, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. Originally created as a business unit (or sub-brand) of the State Rail Authority of New South Wales, it l ...

: responsible for country passenger services * FreightRail: responsible for freight services *Rail Estate: responsible for rail property CityRail adopted a blue and yellow colour scheme including ''L7'' logo, CountryLink a blue, white and grey scheme and FreightRail a blue and yellow scheme.

July 1996 restructure

On 1 July 1996, the State Rail Authority was restructured into four distinct entities by the ''Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Corporatisation and Restructuring) Act 1996''State Rail Authority of New South Wales (II)
NSW Government State Records to separate infrastructure from operations as required by the ''Competition Policy Reform Act 1995''. This was part of the process of moving to an

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

regime. The entities were: * Freight Rail Corporation: responsible for freight services *Rail Access Corporation: responsible for managing track and providing access to public and private operators *Railway Services Authority: responsible for track and rolling stock maintenance *State Rail Authority: passenger service operator consisting of

and

February 1998 restructure

Another restructure in February 1998 saw the State Rail Authority split into four operating divisions: *CityRail Stations *CountryLink *Operations *Passenger Fleet Maintenance

January 2001 restructure

In January 2001, the Rail Access Corporation and Railway Services Authority were merged into the

Rail Infrastructure Corporation Rail Infrastructure Corporation, later known as Country Rail Infrastructure Authority after July 2010, was a Government of New South Wales statutory corporation with responsibility for the management of the railway network in rural New South Wales, ...

that took responsibility for ownership and maintenance of the infrastructure.

January 2004 restructure and wind down

In January 2004, after much criticism and public perceptions of blame shifting between units for operational failings,

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

was formed taking over the passenger train operations from the residual State Rail Authority (CityRail and CountryLink) and responsibility for maintaining the greater metropolitan network from the

. By June 2006 much of the operational function had been transferred, with the State Rail Authority in the process of being wound down.

Publication

From September 1981 until June 1989, ''State Wide'' was the SRA's inhouse journal."State Wide" Rail Staff Newsletter
Western Sydney Records Centre