Sydney–Perth rail corridor explained

The Sydney–Perth rail corridor is a railway route that runs for 4352km (2,704miles) across Australia from Sydney, New South Wales, to Perth, Western Australia.^[1] Most of the route is under the control of the Australian Rail Track Corporation.^[2]

The corridor is heavily trafficked by long-distance freight trains., the rail corridor carried 81 per cent of land freight between the eastern states and Perth, up from 60 per cent in 1996–97;^[3] and in November 2007, 3.46 billion gross tonne-kilometres of freight was carried, a record at the time.^{[4] [5]}

, major freight operators on the corridor included Pacific National, Aurizon, and SCT Logistics.

The Indian Pacific, an experiential tourism passenger train, operates along the entire route, with the journey typically taking three days.^[6] Its sister train, The Ghan, travels over part of the corridor – from Adelaide to Tarcoola – before it proceeds north to Darwin.^[7] Some local passenger services operate at each end (in Western Australia and New South Wales) but not in the central part, in South Australia.

Until the route was converted to standard gauge in 1970, differing choices of track gauges by three state governments required passengers and freight to be trans-shipped at Broken Hill, Port Pirie, and Kalgoorlie. These stations were on the following lines (from east to west):

• the New South Wales Government's standard-gauge Sydney–Broken Hill line, opened in 1927^[8]
• the Silverton Tramway Company's short narrow-gauge line from Broken Hill to Cockburn, opened in 1888^[9]
• the South Australian Government's narrow-gauge Cockburn–Port Pirie line, completed in 1888^[10]
• the Australian federal government's standard-gauge Port Pirie–Port Augusta line, opened in 1937,^[10] and its contiguous standard-gauge Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917 as a major project following Australia's federation^[11]
• the Western Australian Government's narrow-gauge Eastern Goldfields Railway from Kalgoorlie to Perth, opened in 1897.^[12]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Trans-Australian Railway . . 22 April 2020 . National Museum of Australia . 4 July 2020.
2. Web site: Kalgoorlie to Serviceton & Parkes Corridor . . 2021 . Australian Rail Track Corporation . 24 August 2021 .
3. Web site: ARTC – News – NSW Lease 2004 Summary. artc.com.au. 2008-04-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20080323142911/http://www.artc.com.au/Content.aspx?p=117. 23 March 2008. dead.
4. Web site: ARTC – East West Rail Freight Record Tumbles. artc.com.au. 2008-04-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20091024144100/http://www.artc.com.au/Article/Detail.aspx?p=6&np=4&id=122. 24 October 2009. dead.
5. Web site: Another record East West haul. Links. November 2006. Australian Rail Track Corporation. 2008-04-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20080720111158/http://www.artc.com.au/library/Links%2014.pdf. 20 July 2008. dead.
6. Web site: Indian Pacific – Sydney to Perth . . April 2020 . Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions . Great Southern Rail Limited . 2 October 2023.
7. Web site: The Ghan . . April 2020 . Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions . Great Southern Rail Limited . 15 April 2020 .
8. Web site: Broken Hill line . 2020 . NSWrail.net . 4 July 2020.
9. New South Wales . Silverton Tramway Land Vesting Bill . Legislative Council . 22 February 1972 . 4347 . Hon. J.B.M. Fuller . Minister for Decentralisation and Development .
10. Web site: South Australia's mixed gauge muddle . . 2013 . National Railway Museum [South Australia] . National Railway Museum . https://web.archive.org/web/20160228020700/http://natrailmuseum.org.au/downloads/documents/Multi_Gauge_Muddle.compressed.pdf . 4 July 2020 . 28 February 2016 .
11. News: The last link . . XXXIII . 4850 . (Original, Perth. Digital reproduction, Canberra. National Library of Australia – Trove digital newspaper archive) . 18 October 1917 . 4 . 4 July 2020.
12. Book: Newland. Andrew. Quinlan. Howard. Australian Railway Routes 1854–2000. 2000. Australian Railway Historical Society. Redfern. 9780909650490. 63, 67.