The Hay railway line is a partly closed railway line in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The line branches from the

Main South line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the ...

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

, and passes in a westwards direction through the towns of Coolamon and

Narrandera Narrandera ( ), until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the central Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell Highway, Newell and Sturt Highway, Sturt highwa ...

Yanco Yanco is a village in Leeton Shire in south western New South Wales, Australia. Yanco is a Wiradjuri aboriginal language word meaning ''the sound of running water''. Yanco is located from Leeton along Irrigation Way. Yanco is home to the Pow ...

. The first train arrived in Hay on 4 July 1882. The line beyond Yanco to

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

is now closed, although the section to Willbriggie remained open for grain haulage until 2004. At Yanco, the still-open Yanco to Griffith line branches off in a northwesterly direction to

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

Passenger services

Until 1986, passenger service operated over the section of line between Junee and

on their way to

, consisting of a through train to Sydney (the ''

Riverina Express The Riverina Express was a passenger train operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between Sydney, Griffith and Albury from September 1949 until November 1993. History The ''Riverina Express'' was introduced in September 1949 and ...

'') on several days per week, with a connection service between Grifith and Junee (connecting with the '' South Mail'') on the other days. A connecting railcar service was provided at

for passengers on the Tocumwal line operated three days per week, until withdrawn on Saturday 26 November 1983. These services were withdrawn in 1986, and replaced by road coach services. Between 1986 and 1996, no passenger trains operated over the line until services were reintroduced in 1996 after considerable political pressure was placed upon the NSW State Government. A weekly locomotive train was initially reintroduced, subsequently replaced by a weekly Xplorer train. Railway stations remain open at Coolamon and

. File:Hay Station pano.jpg, Hay Station panorama File:HayRailwayPlatform.JPG, Hay Station Platform File:HayRailwayStation.JPG, Hay Railway Station File:HayRailwayStation2008.JPG, Hay Railway Station File:HayRailwayStationSign.JPG, Hay Railway Station File:HayRailwayStationVeranda.JPG, Hay Railway Station File:HayStationMastersHouse.JPG, Hay Railway Station

References

Regional railway lines in New South Wales Standard-gauge railways in Australia Railway lines opened in 1882 {{NewSouthWales-rail-transport-stub

Passenger services

See also

References