Australia Railways
The initial railway in Australia started in 1855 between Sydney and Parramatta, a distance of 14 miles (22.5km). It was built to standard gauge (1435mm), as were most subsequent railways in fresh South Wales. However, because of the nature of Australia at that time, with isolated communities along the coast seeing small need of communication between them, standardization throughout the nation was not seen as necessary and a variety of gauges sprang up elsewhere. 3ft 6in (1067mm) was quite commonly utilized, while the state of Victoria opted for a gauge of 5ft 3in (1600mm). When the famous Transcontinental Railway initial started in 1917, no fewer than 8 changes of gauge were required for a journey from Brisbane to Perth.
Most modern growth has been to standard gauge, and a few of the older lines have been regauged to this. A noteworthy recent opening is the Ghan line connecting Adelaide and Darwin. This is essentially an entirely fresh line, although most of its southern section follows the route of a former 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge line which ran as far as Alice Springs in the very heart of thte country. Passenger trains initial reached Darwin from the south in 2004.
• Main line and suburban railways
• Rail Australia single point source of tickets and information for all Australia’s main railway operations
• Queensland Rail main operator in Queensland
• V/Line main operator in Victoria
• RailCorp main operator in fresh South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising:
• CountryLink long distance services
• CityRail local and suburban services in the Sydney and Newcastle areas
• Transwa long distance services in Western Australia
• Transperth Perth local services
• fresh MetroRail organisation responsible for building extensions to the Transperth network
• Connex Melbourne local services in the Melbourne area
• Australian Railroad Group freight operator in Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory. Also owns Westnet Rail, the rail infrastructure in Western Australia
• Pacific National freight operator in Queensland and Tasmania, also provides various other services to the railway industry.
• Dedicated freight railways
Pilbara Railway extensive rail network in the northern part of Western Australia, a joint venture of Hamersley Iron and Robe River. It is utilized exclusively for the transportation of iron ore from mines to the coastal ports. (No website located at present for the railway itself, but both company websites have few Briefs)
Newman Railway and Yarrie Railway railways in the northern part of Western Australia owned by BHP Billiton Iron Ore. They are utilized exclusively for the transportation of iron ore from mines to the coastal port. (No website located at present for the railway itself, but the company website has few Briefs)
• Urban trains and trams
• Adelaide local trains and trams
• Melbourne trams
• Sydney trams and monorail
• Bendigo historic trams

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