Rail gauge in Australia displays significant variation, which has been an ongoing problem for transportation on the Australian continent, for over a hundred years.
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The most used gauges are [1]
Main gauges:
Other gauges:
While English gauge was the gauge agreed to by the then three colonies, an Irish Engineer Sheilds persuaded a change to the Irish broad gauge. The other two colonies agreed to follow suit; however Sheilds resigned when his pay was cut, and the new Scottish engineer Wallace persuaded New South Wales to revert to standard gauge. The two other colonies with rolling stock on order refused to follow suit a second time and the disastrous break of gauge was started.
Of the networks constructed by the various government railways, there have been a variety of rail gauges:
In 1848 NSW Governor Charles Fitzroy was advised by Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, Earl Grey, that one uniform gauge should be adopted in Australia, this being standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in). This was adopted by the then three colonies.[2] [3]
At the time the private Sydney Railway Company was building their railway line to Parramatta. The chief engineer of the company was Irish-born Francis Webb Sheilds,[4] who persuaded the company and the NSW legislature to change to the Irish standard gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) instead. This decision was endorsed by the NSW Governor and Secretary Earl Grey in London agreed in 1851.[5] The other two colonies also adopted this gauge, with the Victorian Railways opening a line in 1854, and the South Australians using it on their first steam hauled railway in 1856.
However, the Sydney Railway Company gained a new Scottish engineer, James Wallace, who preferred standard gauge. He convinced the NSW legislature to make the change. Despite a request by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to reconsider, the NSW Governor William Denison gave the go ahead in 1855, with the Sydney to Parramatta railway opening in September 1855.[6]
As early as 1857, the NSW railway engineer John Whitton suggested that the short railway then operating in New South Wales be altered from 1435 mm gauge to 1600 mm to conform with Victoria, but despite being supported by the NSW Railway Administration, he was ignored.[7] At that time there was only 37 km of track, 4 engines and assorted cars and wagons on the railway, but by 1889, New South Wales under engineer Whitton had built almost 3500 km of standard gauge line.[6]
Narrow gauge was introduced to Australia in 1865, when Queensland opened their first railway from Ipswich to Grandchester. South Australia also adopted this gauge in 1870 with their lines to Port Wakefield, Hoyleton, Broken Hill and Oodnadatta. Western Australia adopted it in 1879 with their lines from Geraldton to Northampton.[6]
The island state of Tasmania opened their first railway from Launceston to Deloraine in 1871 using broad gauge, but converted to narrow gauge in 1888.[6]
Until this time the gauge issue was no major problem, as there were no connections between the separate systems. The governments of the 1850s did not visualise the need for either inter-city passenger or freight services.[7] It was not until 1883 when the broad and standard gauge lines from Melbourne and Sydney met at Albury, and in 1888 narrow and standard gauge from Brisbane and Sydney met at Wallangarra.[8] The issue of rail gauge was mentioned in an 1889 military defence report authored by English army officer Major General James Bevan Edwards, who said that the full benefit of the railways would not be attained until a uniform gauge was established. It needs to be remembered, however, that until federation the benefits of a uniform gauge were not immediately apparent, as passengers would have to pass through customs and immigration at the intercolonial border, meaning that all goods would have to be removed for customs inspection. It was only with federation, and free trade between the states, that the impediment of different gauges became apparent.
By the time of Federation, standard gauge was used in only NSW, but was favoured for further work. Work on gauge conversion was assisted by section 51 (xxxiii) of the Constitution of Australia, which made specific provisions for the Commonwealth Parliament to make laws with respect to railway acquisition and construction. An agreement was made with the South Australian and Western Australian governments for the Trans-Australian Railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie, with work started in 1911 and completed in 1917.[8]
In 1921 a Royal Commission into rail gauge was delivered, recommending gauge conversion of large areas of the country. It stated "that the gauge of 4-ft. 8.5-in. be adopted as the standard for Australia; that no mechanical, third rail, or other device would meet the situation, and that uniformity could be secured by one means only, viz., by conversion of the gauges other than 4-ft. 8.5-in."[9] Following the Royal Commission, agreements were made for a standard gauge line from Kyogle to South Brisbane (completed in 1930) and from Port Augusta to Port Pirie in 1937.[8]
By World War II there were 12 breaks of gauge, with upwards of 1,600 service personnel and many more civilians employed to move 1.8 million tonnes of freight during the period. The break of gauge (BG=Broad gauge, NG=Narrow gauge, SG=Standard gauge) were at:[8]
The best time to achieve gauge uniformity is to re-gauge when the mileage of the different gauges is small. When this was done in Ireland, compensation was asked for and received by the gauges that missed out. Compensation does not appear to have been asked for or offered in Australia.
By 1933, as many as 140 devices were proposed by inventors to solve the break of gauge problem, none of which were adopted. [10]
Even dual gauge with a third rail for combining Irish Gauge and Standard Gauge was rejected as too reckless as the gap between these gauges of 6.5" was too small. [11] Dual gauge combining Irish gauge and Narrow gauge where the gap was 21" was also rejected. [12]
After the wartime experience, a report into the Standardisation of Australia's rail gauges was completed by former Victorian Railways Chief Commissioner Sir Harold Winthrop Clapp for the Commonwealth Land Transport Board in March 1945. It included three main proposals:[8]
The report wrote that if only main trunk lines were converted, it would introduce a multitude of break of gauge terminals and result in greatly increased costs. It also recommended abandoning part of the existing Perth – Kalgoorlie narrow gauge line, and build a flatter and straighter route using 3rd rail dual gauge, as modernisation was just important as standardisation.[13]
South Australia was unhappy with the report, as the link to the Northern Territory would not run though its state. Western Australia and Queensland both saw no advantage in the report, as they already had a common gauge in their states, and only one main break of gauge. NSW entered into the agreement to advance gauge standardisation in Victoria and South Australia, but did not ratify it.[13]
Gauge conversion did continue, with the South Australian Railways south east division from Wolseley to Mount Gambier and associated branches converted to broad gauge in the 1950s, on the understanding it would again to standard gauge at a later date. Standard gauge lines were also built, with the line between Stirling North and Maree opened in July 1957.[13]
In 1956 a Government Members Rail Standardisation Committee as established, chaired by William Wentworth.[14] It found that while there was still considerable doubt as to the justification for large scale gauge conversion, there was no doubt that work on some main trunk lines was long overdue. Both the committee and the Liberal party then in power strongly supported three standardisation projects at a cost of 41.5 million pounds:
The Commonwealth, NSW and Victorian governments were first to start work, with the first goods train to Melbourne operating on January 1962 and the first through passenger train in April 1962. Over the next 12 months net freight tonnage was up 32.5% and to 1973 there was an average increase of 8.6%.[14]
The work in Western Australia was done in conjunction with a new iron ore mine at Koolyanobbing and an accompanying steel mill at Kwinana. A new dual gauge line was built through the Avon Valley from Midland to Northam on 1 in 200 grades instead of 1 in 40;[7] and a new line was built from Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie though Koolyanobbing.[14] Officially opened in August 1969, Kalgoolie - Perth freight train times were reduced from 31 hours to 13 hours, and passenger trains from 14 hours to 8 hours.
In South Australia work on Port Pirie to Broken Hill did not start until 1963. The narrow gauge lines from Gladstone and Peterborough were not converted, with triple gauge yards provided. Standard gauge access to Adelaide was not provided.[14] From Cockburn to Broken Hill a new railway was built on an improved alignment, avoiding the private Silverton Tramway route.[15] The completion of this link enabled the first Indian Pacific to run across the nation in March 1970 from Sydney to Perth.
A new line between Tarcoola and Alice Springs was given the go ahead by the Whitlam Government in 1974. Built to replace the narrow gauge Central Australia Railway the 831 kilometre long line was completed by 1980, see Adelaide-Darwin Railway.[7]
Work on standard gauge access to Adelaide started in 1982, with a new line from Crystal Brook near Port Pirie. Freight trains begun using the line in 1983 with passenger trains following the next year. With benefits exceeding the cost by 2.8 times over 25 years, the Australian National Railways Commission was able to obtain a loan for the funding of the work.[15]
The One Nation project was carried out under the Keating Government from 1991 to 1996. The Melbourne-Adelaide railway line was converted to standard gauge in 1995,[16] at a cost of $167 million.[17] A few broad gauge lines such as the one to Portland were also converted. A standard gauge/dual gauge link was also opened to the Port of Brisbane in 1997.[17]
Gauge conversion of 2000 kilometres of track in Victoria was announced by the State Government in May 2001 but did not proceed due to the difficulty of achieving any agreement with then track manager, Freight Australia.[16] In 2008 the conversion of the North East line in Victoria was announced, covering 200 kilometres (120 mi) of track between Seymour and Albury to provide double track along the section.[18] In the same year standard gauge access was provided to the Port of Geelong, 13 years after conversion of the line running to the city.[19]
The Oaklands branch line is also being converted.
To allow the creation of a new multimodal centre at Bromelton, Queensland, the Acacia Ridge to Bromelton section is being converted to dual gauge.
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