Rail gauge in Australia

[appleexpress]

Not being up to speed on the technical aspects of running a railway, I was under the impression that most countries had some sort of standardised rail gauge that had been implemented over time. This article on Wikipedia, though, points out that Australia still faces some challenges in this regard.

Cheers,
Ian

 

[ZecMurphy]

That article is pretty much correct, we still have three main gauges in use today. Those being 5ft3in Broad Gauge (mostly Victoria, and a small amount of SA), 4ft8.5in Standard Gauge (the interstate network is now entirely SG, plus all of New South Wales, much of South Australia, all of Northern Territory, and some of Victoria), and 3ft6in narrow gauge (Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia).

As above, the interstate standard gauge has meant that interstate services no longer face break of gauge. However, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia do face a change of gauge for goods traveling from interstate to various locations in the state (Victoria has converted some of the regional lines to standard gauge mind). This is done through either trans-shipping containers between broad and standard gauge wagons, or doing bogie exchanges in Melbourne (not sure if we still do this 'on the go' these days). Most loads that need trans-shipping would be loaded in containers to make doing so fairly quick.

Regards

 

[jjanmarine3]

Hi Zec.
It is very interesting to hear that bogie changes are or were done , and I guess with the correct equipment , set up and experienced staff it was done fairly quick too.
regards
Jan.

 

[Red_Rattler]

I wonder if you included all the narrow gauge lines that existed (including those that stupid governments physically closed, not officially closed) in Queensland, WA & Tasmania, if 3' 6" would really be Australia's "standard" gauge. But with that article, I read or heard somewhere that the largest amount of kilometres WAS the narrow 3' 6" gauge.

 

[Enkidoh]

Yeah, I think Red is right on this regard - I've heard that claim as well. The QR narrow gauge network on it's own is huge, and when you include the Westrail/ARG narrow gauge in the South-West of WA, G&W's remaining ex SAR/CR narrow gauge lines in SA, and the Tasmanian network, as well, it's not hard to see why.

Standard gauge is really only major in NSW, with it in the other states mostly confined to the interstate network linking every state capital, apart from some former broad/narrow gauge lines standardized in Victoria, SA and WA.

 

[Petan]

Also can add in the 610 mm (2 ft) gauge rail transport section of the QLD sugar cane industry as it is quite substantial, operates in the commercial economic environment and in some cases operate heavier and longer trains then on larger gauges eg Trains can run at 40 km/h and can be up to 2000 tonnes in weight and one kilometre in length, as noted from the direct quote below from "The Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc"
http://www.lrrsa.org.au/LRR_SGRz.htm

There are about 4,000 kilometres of track, of which about 3,000 kilometres is main line, transporting up to 36 million tonnes of sugar cane each season. There are about 250 diesel hydraulic locomotives in use and about 52,000 cane "bins", both four-wheel and bogie, are used to transport the chopped cane during the crushing season of up to 26 weeks. The season normally runs from about June/July to November/December. Locomotives of up to 520 kilowatts power are in use, with numbers of them converted to 610 mm (2 ft) gauge from 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and even standard gauge. The furthest run to a mill is 119 km and the average distance hauled ranges up to 35 km. Trains can run at 40 km/h and can be up to 2000 tonnes in weight and one kilometre in length.

There are many high quality Trainz items for the sugar cane rail industry as noted on the Australian screenshot forum.

Late addition; in QLD narrow gauge refers mainly to 610 mm (2 ft) gauge as used in many sugar cane areas and 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) is often only considered narrow gauge when compared to wider 1435mm track.

Cheers
Peter