History of rail transport in Australia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Australians generally assumed in the 1850s that railways would be built by the private sector. Private companies built railways in the then colonies of Victoria, opened in 1854, and New South Wales, where the company was taken over by the government before completion in 1855, due to bankruptcy. South Australia's railways were government owned from the beginning, including a horse-drawn line opened in 1854 and a steam-powered line opened in 1856. In Victoria, the private railways were soon found not to be financially viable, and existing rail networks and their expansion were taken over by the colony. Government ownership also enabled railways to be built to promote development, even if not apparently viable in strictly financial terms. The railway systems spread from the colonial capitals, except for a few lines that hauled commodities to a rural port.

Railways in Australia date from the 10 December 1831 when the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway,[1] located at the intersection of Brown and Church Streets, Newcastle, New South Wales. Privately owned and operated to service the A Pit coal mine, it was a cast iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway.[2]

The colonial railways were built to three different gauges, which became a problem once lines of different systems met at

standard gauge and electrified suburban networks were built in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. In the second half of the 20th century, many rural branch lines were closed to passenger traffic or altogether in all states. On the other hand, long heavy-haul railways were built to transport iron ore in Western Australia and coal in Queensland
to ports. In Western Australia these railways are privately owned.

In the 1990s and the early 21st century, the traditional networks were reorganised and partially privatised. The interstate standard gauge network came largely under the control of the Australian Rail Track Corporation and private companies were allowed to operate on it for the first time. Some non-metropolitan intrastate networks became privately controlled and the operation of private freight and passenger trains commenced. The Melbourne suburban railways became the first urban rail system to be operated by private sector franchisees.

Development of state-based networks

The colonies of New South Wales and Victoria built their railway lines to different gauges. Where they met, at Albury, all travellers had to change trains and all freight had to be laboriously trans-shipped. To shelter passengers roused from their beds in the middle of the night, a covered platform was needed; at 348 metres (381 yards) it is one of the longest in Australia.

Railways in Australia date from the 10 December 1831 when the

fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway.[2]

The earliest railway in South Australia consisted of the seven-mile horse-drawn freight line between

Port Elliot, which began service on 18 May 1854, allowing steam ships to avoid the treacherous mouth of the Murray River.[3] The first steam locomotive began service soon afterward on the Port Melbourne line between Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), and Flinders Street in Melbourne.[3]

In 1848, the

standard gauge (4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)) be used but had considerable difficulty in raising sufficient funds to commence construction and the first section of the line, between Granville and Sydney was not opened until 1855. This area is now part of Sydney's western suburbs and the railway line became the first section of what is now the Main Suburban line. The Sydney Railway Company went bankrupt building it and as a result the line was taken over by the government, leading to the establishment of the New South Wales Government Railways. Part of the reason for the delay in starting construction and the Company's eventual bankruptcy was the start of the Australian gold rushes in 1851—these created a labour-shortage and forced up prices.[4][failed verification][5][failed verification][6][failed verification] In fact the railway did not reach Goulburn until 1869 and Bathurst until 1876, both lines having had to cross difficult topography.[7][8]

gauge). In 1856, the government-owned South Australian Railways opened its first 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge line from Adelaide to Port Adelaide.[4]

The three major Australian colonies at the time failed to follow advice from the

Francis Sheilds persuaded the Government of New South Wales to require that all railways in the colony be of the Irish broad gauge. In 1853 a Scots engineer persuaded the legislature to change back to standard gauge. Unfortunately although New South Wales had informed Victoria of the change, the government there decided to continue with 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge and South Australia then followed Victoria. Suggestions and proposals respectively that Victoria should follow New South Wales or New South Wales should convert to the Victorian gauge were made soon after but the states followed their initial choice.[citation needed]

Queensland's first line (3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge—known in Australia as "

Bigge's Camp, the first stage of a railway between Brisbane and Toowoomba, opened in 1865.[10] This gauge was intended to save money and was subsequently followed by Tasmania and Western Australia.[11] As a result, in the middle of the 20th century Australia had almost equal amounts of each gauge. Tasmania's first 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge line opened in 1871 from Deloraine to Launceston and was converted to 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge in 1888. Finally, Western Australia opened its first Government-owned line in 1879 between Geraldton and Northampton. Lines spread in all the states from these first lines, connecting ports to farmland and ports.[4]

The mainline systems of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and

breaks of gauge
) in the 1880s. Only Victoria and South Australia shared a common gauge, and even so they opted to change engines at the border. The other mainland colony, Western Australia, was isolated by 2,000 km of desert. The first break of gauge was created when the New South Wales and Victorian lines met at
Albury in 1883.[7] The railways of Victoria and South Australia meet at Serviceton in 1887, but these lines were both broad gauge.[9] In 1888 the railways of New South Wales and Queensland meet at Wallangara.[7] Meanwhile, in 1889, the first line (1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge) in the Northern Territory was opened from Darwin to Pine Creek. In 1914, an eight kilometre extension of the New South Wales Railways from Queanbeyan to Canberra was opened to create the Australian Capital Territory's first and only line.[12]

New South Wales

New South Wales' railways date from the 10 December 1831 when the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway,[1] located at the intersection of Brown and Church Streets, Newcastle. Privately owned and operated to service the A Pit coal mine, it was a cast iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway[2]

Preserved second class coach of 1854, built by Joseph Wright & Sons for the Sydney to Parramatta line at the Powerhouse Museum

New South Wales' railways were standard gauge lines built to connect the ports of Sydney and Newcastle to the rural interior. The first public railway was the

Main Western line was built in stages to the north west of the state, starting in 1860 at Parramatta Junction and reaching Bourke in 1885.[8]

NSWGR freight car type S, built 1907–21.

The

Grafton Bridge, brought about the closure of the northern end of the Main North line at the Maitland junction due to its shorter distance.[15][16]

The last main line, the

Illawarra line to Wollongong and Bomaderry completed in 1893.[18] In 1926 work began on electrifying Sydney's urban railways
and connecting them together via new lines.

Victoria

Premier express train of the Victorian Railways, the Spirit of Progress in 1937
A V/Line VLocity train, part of the Regional Fast Rail project

Victoria's first railway was a suburban railway opened from Melbourne to

Main Southern line.[21] In 1887, Victorian Railways met South Australian Railways at Serviceton, although both systems used broad gauge.[22]

In 1919, electrification and development of the

Privatisation of the Victorian railway network was carried out by the Kennett Government in the 1990s, with freight, suburban and country rail services split into separate companies. This was later followed by the Regional Fast Rail project
that saw track upgrades, new trains, and an improved timetable to major regional cities.

Queensland

The first line opened in 1865 from

gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) in order to reduce costs through the steep escarpment. This was subsequently applied to all the railways built in Queensland, except for the Sydney–Brisbane line and the Weipa mining railway, both built in the 20th century.[11] This was the first 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) railway in the world, but the gauge subsequently spread to Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia and several African countries. The line was extended from Grandchester to Toowoomba at the top of a steep climb in 1867[25] and was connected from Ipswich to Brisbane in 1875.[26] From Toowoomba it was extended in stages to meet the New South Wales standard gauge line at Wallangarra in 1887 and to Charleville in outback southern Queensland in 1888.[27]

Independent lines were commenced from the east coast ports of Maryborough, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay, Bowen, Townsville, Cairns and Cooktown. The central line opened from Rockhampton to Westwood in 1887 and reached Winton in central western Queensland in 1928. The northern line opened from Townsville to Charters Towers in 1882 and reached Mount Isa in 1929.[27][28][29][30] In 1888 the east-west lines began to be connected with the opening of the first section of the North Coast line to Petrie. It was not until 1924 that this line finally reached Cairns, Cooktown was never connected.[27][28][29][30]

Many heavy haul coal lines were built in the late 20th century from the ports of Gladstone (beginning in 1968) and

Hay Point (beginning in 1971). Electrification of some of the heavy haul coal lines commenced in 1986.[31] Finally an electrified rail system was developed in suburban Brisbane from 1979. Eventually the North Coast line between Brisbane and Rockhampton was electrified.[31]
This, together with the central Queensland mining railway, constitutes Australia's only significant rural rail electrification.

Western Australia

Wonnerup, 1921. Reputed to be the oldest in Western Australia, the engine now sits in St Marys Park, Busselton
.

The first railway in Western Australia was the

Walkaway, which connected with the Government line to Geraldton, 424 km north of Perth. In 1896, the railway connected Perth to Kalgoorlie, where gold had been discovered in 1893.[32]

In the 20th century, Perth was finally connected to the eastern states. In 1917, the standard gauge

Mandurah
.

South Australia

In 1854,

Port Elliot to transfer freight between shallow-draft vessels and coastal and ocean-going vessels, which later became part of the steam-powered network. The South Australia line was later extended to a safer harbour at Victor Harbor.[4]

The first South Australian steam-operated line was built as a

Port Pirie and Port Lincoln. Some of these were built initially to carry ore, particularly copper. Some lines later carried freight from the Murray River and grain from the broadacre lands.[4][32][33] All but the lines radiating from Adelaide were initially narrow 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge lines. The first narrow gauge line was completed in 1870 from Port Wakefield to Hoyleton but was soon upgraded to broad gauge and extended to Blyth, the station nearest the township of Clare.[32]

The first interstate connection was completed in 1887, when the South Australian and Victorian broad gauge railways met at

Port Pirie to Broken Hill, with a connection at Peterborough to Adelaide.[32] The broad gauge line was completed from Adelaide to Terowie in 1880.[34] The line north of Terowie was built as a narrow gauge line in stages to Peterborough and Quorn in 1882[35] and Oodnadatta in 1891.[32] This was extended to Alice Springs by the Commonwealth Railways in 1929, when it was renamed the Central Australia Railway.[32]

Tasmania

The first railway in Tasmania was a broad

break-of-gauge. Further gauge confusion was added in 1885 when the Tasmanian Government built a narrow gauge line west of Deloraine to Devonport. This was resolved in 1888 by the conversion of the Launceston–Deloraine line to narrow gauge.[32]

The Tasmanian Government bought the Tasmanian Main Line Company in 1890, creating the

.

Off network gauges

Development of the national network

In the 19th century, railways were created to enable agricultural and minerals traffic to be carried to ports for export, and to allow passenger and freight operations between colonial capitals and regional areas. Coastal shipping handled most passenger and freight traffic between the colonies. John Whitton was appointed Engineer in Chief of the New South Wales Government Railways in 1856 and immediately advised his government that the short railway that had been opened in Sydney be converted to broad gauge in case the railways of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia ever joined, but he was refused because "... his political masters ... were unable to envisage intercolonial traffic ever developing."[32] However, the problem of different gauges became apparent with the meeting of lines of the different systems at Albury in 1883[14] and Wallangarra in 1888.[14]

In the 1890s, the establishment of an

Australian Government is free to provide funding to the states for rail upgrading projects under Section 96 ("the Parliament may grant financial assistance to any State on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks fit").[36]

The Australian Government has full responsibility for railways in the federal territories, although the Northern Territory's railway is now owned and operated by the private

AustralAsia Rail Corporation and the only railway in the Australian Capital Territory, the Canberra-Queanbeyan railway is now operated by NSW TrainLink
.

In 1910, a conference of Railway commissioners chose 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) to be the

standard gauge
. Over the decades, many plans were floated to fix the break of gauge. These failed, mainly because they were too ambitious and proposed to convert all lines, even lines of little economic value.

Creating a standard gauge network

In the 20th century, the different state rail systems became more integrated, initially creating more

Federal Government's standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway was completed between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta.[33] However, this required a break of gauge at Kalgoorlie to reach Perth and breaks of gauge at both Port Augusta and Terowie to reach Adelaide. In 1927, the last section of the Sydney–Broken Hill line was completed between Trida and Menindee meeting the South Australian Railways line at a break of gauge and requiring a further break of gauge at Terowie to reach Adelaide.[17]

lifted to let shipping through)

In 1932 the first progress in reducing the gauge conflict was made with the completion of the standard gauge

a bridge at Grafton.[14] The first standard gauge line in South Australia, Trans-Australian Railway, was completed in 1917 between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie,[33] requiring break-of-gauges at Terowie, Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie to reach Perth. This line was extended to Port Pirie Junction in 1937 and the broad gauge line from Adelaide to Redhill was extended to Port Pirie, removing one break-of gauge.[32]

In the 1950s, a parliamentary committee chaired by

William Wentworth
recommended a much more modest and affordable plan to gauge convert the three main missing links:

  • broad gauge
    to complete the Sydney–Melbourne railway.
  • narrow gauge
    converted to standard gauge.
  • Port Pirie
    – narrow gauge converted to standard.

In 1962 the

The

Private railways

There have always been niches for private railways in most colonies, such as:

  • timber – private timber lines have occurred in most forested areas of Australia since the late 19th century
  • mining – private iron mining railways alone now account for most Australian rail freight by tonnage, but private coal railways have been important since the early years of coal mining in the mid 19th century
  • quarrying
  • major factory sites, such as steel works
  • temporary lines at construction sites
  • agriculture, especially the sugar industry

Timber railways

Most timber railway operations across Australia were transitory, only existing for the time that timber was extracted. Some lines were moved regularly to the areas of forest to be exploited. A few 19th century operations were horse hauled, but most were steam powered. Very few timber railways lasted into the 1960s with the advent of more versatile and stronger road based haulage.[37]

Mining railways

A train transporting iron ore on the Mount Newman railway in 2003

Starting in the 1960s, four heavy duty railways were developed in the Pilbara region of the far north of Western Australia for the haulage of iron ore from several mines to the nearest ports. These railways are isolated from each other and from the national system, carrying no other traffic.

The very heavy traffic on these lines, up to 100 million tonnes per year, push wheel/rail technology to its limits, and has resulted in considerable research and development that has been of value to railways worldwide.

These iron ore railways are all 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) gauge, and started off using American standards for track, locomotives and wagons.

In 2008, the

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) commenced operating a fifth iron ore railway in the Pilbara
.

The railway lines are:

1990s and recent developments

Privatisation

In 1992, the largely

Australian National, FreightCorp and the Public Transport Corporation, and commenced operations on the interstate network. National Rail Corporation's freight operations and rolling stock (not infrastructure) were combined with the New South Wales Government owned FreightCorp and sold to Toll Holdings and Patrick Corporation as Pacific National
in 2002.

Australian National was privatised in 1997. Its Tasmanian operations and infrastructure (TasRail) were sold to Australian Transport Network, which was taken over by Pacific National in 2004. South Australian branch lines were sold to Genesee & Wyoming Australia. Its passenger operations were taken over by Great Southern Railway.

State freight and country passenger operations were privatised. Urban passenger trains remained in government ownership, except in

Victoria
, because such services are politically sensitive and could not operate profitably.

New operating companies that appeared included:

Licensing of personnel with nationally recognised credentials facilitates the transfer of those people from one state or operator to another, as traffic demands.

Separation of infrastructure and operations

Construction and maintenance of network infrastructure were consolidated into non-profit government bodies, in the case of the interstate network and the non-urban railways of New South Wales (Australian Rail Track Corporation) and Western Australia (WestNet Rail). This was intended to provide access to new and existing players.

The interstate rail network of the former

Kwinana to interstate rail operators under a wholesale access agreement with the Western Australian track owner and operator, Brookfield Rail. It also "has a working relationship with Queensland Rail about the use of the 127 kilometres of standard gauge line between the Queensland border and Fisherman Islands. ARTC intends to start discussions with Queensland about leasing this track once the NSW arrangements are bedded down".[38]
The ARTC also maintains the NSW rural branch lines under contract.

Other railways continue to be integrated, although access to their infrastructure is generally required under National Competition Policy principles agreed by the Federal, State and Territory governments:

Much maintenance of tracks were contracted out.

Australian Government funding

The

Australian National Railways
in 1975, which was privatised in 1997. Although the Australian Government has considered the funding of railways owned by State Government to be a State responsibility, it has made loans to the States for gauge standardisation projects from the 1920s to the 1970s. From the 1970s to 1996, the Australian Government has provided some grant funding to the States for rail projects.

One Nation program

Under the Keating government's One Nation program:

  • the
    Melbourne-Adelaide line
    was converted to standard gauge in 1995.
  • the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge Fisherman Islands line to the Port of Brisbane was converted to dual 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) / 1,067 mm gauge and extended in parallel with the duplicated passenger line to Dutton Park.
  • a standard gauge link was built to the port at Fremantle.
  • new standard gauge sidings were provided at Adelaide Outer Harbor.
  • a separate freight line was built between
    Australian Government under AusLink
    .
  • the Sydney–Brisbane line was upgraded with longer passing loops, the replacement of wooden trestles with concrete bridges, concrete resleepering, some minor deviations and bank stabilisation.
  • passing loops were extended between Wodonga and Melbourne.

Alice Springs to Darwin railway

In 2004, the final link in the

Northern Territory. The Northern Territory expected that the line would open up mining ventures that would otherwise be uneconomic without a heavy duty rail line.[citation needed][needs update
]

See Rail transport in Australia for current Australian Government rail funding.

Single regulator

In 2009, it was proposed to combine the seven separate state rail regulators into a single regulator.[39][needs update]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Webber, J; Wylie, R.F. (March 1968), "Colliery Railways of the Australian Agricultural Company in the Newcastle District", Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin: 53–63
  2. ^ a b c Campbell, D.; Brougham, J.; Caldwell, R., "Conference Paper: Uncovering and understanding Australia's First Railway" (PDF), Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 7 (2), Newcastle, NSW: Engineering Heritage Australia: 2–3, archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2014, retrieved 14 July 2011
  3. ^ a b Testro, Ron (1971), A Pictorial History of Australian Railways, Lansdowne Press, p. 9
  4. ^ a b c d e "Chapter 4: Building Australia's First Railways, 1848–1873". Linking a Nation. Australian Heritage Council. Archived from the original on 29 February 2008.
  5. ^
    Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. Archived from the original
    on 26 September 2008.
  6. ^ a b "William Webster – the first railway engineer". The Iron Road www.warrenfahey.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Main South Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Main Western Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d "ARHS Railway Museum: History 1839–1900". ARHS Railway Museum. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009.
  10. ^ a b "Beginnings". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010.
  11. ^ a b "The choice of a different gauge". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010.
  12. ^ "Canberra Branch history". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  13. Sydney Morning Herald
    . 2 May 1889. p. 7. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Main North Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  15. ^ "North Coast Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  16. ^ "Additional Crossing of the Clarence River – Feasibility Study Report" (PDF). Roads & Traffic Authority. February 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2011. p1
  17. ^ a b "Broken Hill Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  18. ^ "South Coast Line". NSWrail.net. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  19. ^ a b c "VR timeline". victorianrailways.net. Mark Bau. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  20. ^ "Geelong Line". Rail Geelong. Marcus Wong. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
  21. ^ Brown, Sid (March 1990). "Tracks Across the State". Newsrail. 18 (3). Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division): 71–76.
  22. ^ "Victorian Railway Maps 1860–2000". Victorian Railways Resources. Andrew Waugh. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  23. ^ "ARHS Railway Museum: History 1900–1950". ARHS Railway Museum. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  24. ^ Lucas, Clay (20 August 2008). "Public transport use hits all-time high". The Age. Melbourne, Australia.
  25. ^ "An imported railway". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 22 July 2008.
  26. ^ "Building to the bush". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 22 July 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  27. ^ a b c "The common carrier". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 22 July 2008.
  28. ^ a b "Towards a unified rail system". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  29. ^ a b "A vision splendid". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010.
  30. ^ a b "Rail as foremost mode of travel". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  31. ^ a b "Modern competitive railway". QR History. Queensland Rail. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Chapter 5: The Railway Age, 1874–1920". Linking a Nation. Australian Heritage Council. Archived from the original on 29 February 2008.
  33. ^ a b c d "A History of Rail in South Australia". National Rail Museum. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009.
  34. ^ "Terowie Urban Conservation Area, Terowie, SA, Australia". Australian Heritage Database. Aussie Heritage. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008.
  35. ^ "Peterborough Railway Roundhouse and Turntable, Railway Terrace, Peterborough, SA". Australian Heritage Database. Aussie Heritage. Retrieved 11 April 2008.
  36. ^ Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
  37. ^ Anderson, John. "Media release, December 2003". Government of Australia. Archived from the original on 9 September 2007.
  38. ^ Single, national rail safety regulatory and investigation framework: draft regulatory impact statement (PDF), Australia: National Transport Commission, November 2008, archived from the original (PDF) on 12 February 2014

Further reading

  • Brown, Sid. "Tracks Across the State". Newsrail (Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division)) (March 1990). 18 (3): 71–76.
  • Carroll, Brian. Australia's Railway Days: Milestones in Railway History (Macmillan Company of Australia, 1977).
  • Hearn, Mark. Working Lives: A History of the Australian Railways Union (NSW Branch) (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1990).
  • Hill, William (1894). "State Railways in Australia". Journal of Political Economy. 3 (1): 1–23.
  • Lee, Robert. "A Fractious Federation: Patterns in Australian Railway Historiography." Mobility in History 4#1 (2013): 149–158.
  • Rowe, Denis. "The Robust Navvy: The Railway Construction Worker in Northern New South Wales, 1854–1894." Labour History (1980): 28–46. in JSTOR
  • Taksa, Lucy. "'About as popular as a dose of clap': Steam, diesel and masculinity at the New South Wales Eveleigh railway workshops." The Journal of Transport History 26#2 (2005): 79–97.
  • Testro, Ron. A Pictorial History of Australian Railways (Lansdowne Press, 1971)
  • Wills-Johnson, Nick. "Competition Policy and Railway Investment in Australia." Planning and Transport Research Centre Working Paper 12 (2007). online
  • Wotherspoon, Garry. "The determinants of the pattern and pace of railway development in New South Wales, 1850–1914." Australian Journal of Politics & History 25.1 (1979): 51–65.

External links