Commonwealth Railways

The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the

Construction of the

The promise to construct the Trans-Australian Railway had been one of the principal inducements to

In 1937, the eastern end was extended south to Port Pirie, enabling one less break of gauge in the trip across Australia, but at the same time establishing a three-gauge junction at Port Pirie with the 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge South Australian Railways line to Adelaide.

The Trans-Australian Railway remained an isolated stretch of standard-gauge track between two narrow-gauge railways until 1968, when the Kalgoorlie to Perth standard-gauge line replaced the line at the western end, and 1970 when a standard-gauge line from Port Pirie to Broken Hill replaced a narrow-gauge line, completing the long-delayed project to connect Perth to Sydney with one standard gauge.

The Trans-Australian Railway remained fundamentally a single-track main line, the only branch line being a short section from Pimba to Woomera (officially known as a stores siding, though a passenger service operated when Woomera was the base of a large rocket testing range). There are two junctions: one on the outskirts of Port Augusta is the line to Whyalla, which opened for traffic in 1972; and one at Tarcoola is the Central Australia Railway, which opened in 1980.

North Australia Railway

The North Australia Railway was the name given to the Northern Territory narrow-gauge railway that extended south from Darwin to Birdum. Construction of this line was commenced by the Government of South Australia, being known then as the Palmerston & Pine Creek Railway, it opened in 1889.^[1]

When the administration of the Northern Territory passed from South Australia to the Commonwealth Government on 1 January 1911, the railway was transferred to Commonwealth ownership. The railway was initially placed under the control of the Administrator of the Northern Territory. At this time, it was known as the Northern Territory Railway, but was transferred to the control of the Commonwealth Railways Commissioner in 1918.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

It was renamed the North Australia Railway in 1926. Extensions to Birdum were completed in 1929, but during and following

The railway gained increased importance in the 1960s and early 1970s through the mining of iron ore from the Frances Creek deposits, about 230 kilometres south of Darwin. Ore traffic exceeded one million tons per annum, but after the mine closed, other traffic was not enough to justify keeping the railway open and it closed in 1976.^[7]

Australian Capital Territory Railway

In March 1913, work began on an 8.5 kilometre

The Central Australia Railway extended from Port Augusta to Alice Springs. Work on the first section of this railway was commenced by the South Australian Railways in 1878.^[1]

Under South Australian ownership, the railway, known as the Great Northern Railway,^[10] was extended in stages and reached Oodnadatta in 1891. The South Australian Government subsequently made offers to several syndicates to construct a line north from Oodnadatta to Pine Creek on the land grant system, however negotiations were unsuccessful and Oodnadatta remained the railhead.

Like the North Australia Railway, this railway passed to Commonwealth ownership on 1 January 1911, but continued to be operated by the South Australian Railways until the Commonwealth Railways took over operations on 1 January 1926. An extension of the railway to Alice Springs was completed in 1929.

In the years following

The old narrow-gauge line between Marree and Hawker was closed, but between Stirling North and Hawker it was retained and used to a limited extent for some years. The line between Stirling North and Hawker was closed in 1972 and the section between Stirling North and Quorn handed over to the operations of the Pichi Richi Railway.

Gauges

Narrow gauge

The Commonwealth Railways owned and operated

The Ghan train commenced operation for the Commonwealth Railways when they took over the narrow-gauge

The Indian Pacific commenced operating in February 1970 between

The Tea & Sugar was a train that serviced isolated Australian towns between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie. The train provided all the supplies for remote towns in South and Western Australia that were mainly inhabited by railway workers who maintained the line.

Trans-Australian

The Trans-Australian Passenger train ran between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie that commenced in 1917 and was still being operated by Australian National when it ceased in 1991.

Fleet

For its standard gauge operations, Commonwealth Railways purchased G, K, KA, C, CA, CN and L class steam locomotives. From 1951, it purchased Clyde Engineering built GM and CL class diesel locomotives. It also purchased three CB railcars.

For its narrow gauge operations, NC, NSU, NT and NJ diesels were purchased to replace steam locomotives inherited from the South Australian Railways in 1911.

In 1936, the company owned 105 locomotives, 2 railcars, 67 coaches, 14 brake vans and over 1000 freight wagons.^[14]

Commissioners

• 1917–1929 – Norris Garrett Bell
• 1929–1948 – George A. Gahan
• 1948–1960 – P. J. Hannaberry
• 1960–1975 – Keith Smith^[15]

Demise

Australian National Railways was established by the Whitlam Federal Government following a commitment made in the 1972 election to invite the states to hand over their railway systems to the federal government. In July 1975, Australian National Railways was formed taking over the operations of Commonwealth Railways.

During the next two years, discussions between the state governments of South Australia and Tasmania and the federal government resulted in all South Australian Railways services (except the Adelaide metropolitan passenger network) and all Tasmanian Government Railways services transferring to Australian National Railway in March 1978, the latter being rebranded AN Tasrail.

References

Further reading

• Commonwealth Railways Act 1917
• Chris's Commonwealth Railways Pages
• National Railway Museum