Rail transport in Victoria

The railway in Victoria emerged as the state railway system of the British colony and later the Australian state of Victoria.

Gauge

Since before the Australian State in 1901, these were the union of the colonies and independent of each other, was the ruling on the gauge, in which the respective railway should be built affair of the individual colony. On February 19, 1850, a law was passed, which authorized the construction of a railway from Melbourne to Port Adelaide, Port of Melbourne, in standard gauge. On July 27, 1852 New South Wales passed a law, its rail network in a broad gauge of 1,600 mm to build (5 feet 3 inches ). The original plan for the railway line was - although Victoria had been separated in 1851 as a colony of New South Wales - therefore abandoned in favor of this decision. As New South Wales shortly thereafter reversed its decision again and returned to the normal track, Victoria could not support this decision as railway facilities corresponding vehicles were ordered already created in broad gauge and also. For this legislative chaos of today still have problems causing breakage results in the gauges of rail networks from Victoria and New South Wales.

Network

The railway network of Victoria is in its structure significantly radially to the capital of Melbourne and its port. The first route was also from Melbourne's Flinders Street Station to the city's port, was four miles long and was opened as the first in Australia on 12 September 1854. There followed several routes that serve the suburban services today.

The first long-distance routes of the colony of Victoria resulted from Melbourne to Echuca, Geelong and Ballarat. Importantly, the two cross- border links were:

The main routes are developed today in the twin-track rule. The two cross- border links towards South Australia and New South Wales have been converted to standard gauge operation and beyond created for standard gauge freight sidings and connections. The network is poor in civil engineering structures due to the flat topography of the country.

In the S- train network of Metropolitan Melbourne region a first line was changed on 15 April 1923 on electrical equipment. This was the first electrified line in Australia. Test runs had taken place since 1919. In July 1954 took the route Melbourne Warragul, the first long-haul in Australia on the electrical operation.

The state railway in 1942 with 7668 kilometers of track reached its greatest extent. From the 1960s the importance of the railroad went back in Victoria as a means of transport. This meant that many branch lines were abandoned. A strong position has the web but in the transcontinental freight sector, especially in container trains and urban transport of the metropolitan Melbourne. Long-distance passenger transport plays only a minor role, but with the Southern Cross Station (formerly Spencer Street Station ) obtain a new, modern train station in Melbourne 2007.

Narrow Gauge Railways

The late 19th and early 20th century a number of narrow gauge railways of different systems were built in relations in which an operation of the broad-gauge railway was not profitable. These tracks, which zuführten the main routes traffic are almost all closed again today. As a railway museum and tourist attraction, the Puffing Billy Railway and Walhalla Goldfields Railway are obtained.

Organization

1883 Victoria nationalized the hitherto largely privately organized railway companies and brought them into the Victorian Railways. Overall originated in Victoria the densest railway network in Australia.

The state railway, after they had in 1965 for the last time and was thrown profit since the economically increasingly in deficit, initially organized under private law in the 1980s and the transport company then spun off in the 1990s.

Rolling stock

From the beginning, both home-made steam locomotives as well as imported machines by Robert Stephenson & Co. of England were used. 1883 on the Victorian Railways of the " WR " Rowan taken of Copenhagen " designed steam railcars " Rowan Steam Car in operation. Perhaps " W. R. Rowan " a son of Frederick James Rowan, from 1859-1872 as an engineer working for the first Jutland Funen Railroad, full name William Robert Rowan. After the Second World War, the steam locomotives were increasingly replaced by diesel locomotives used in passenger railcar and air-conditioned trains. On 14 July 1952, the first diesel-electric locomotive was put into operation.

History

On April 20, 1908, the most serious railway accident occurred in Victoria. In Sunshine, a suburb of Melbourne, went on an incoming train from Bendigo to another from Ballarat. The trains were both busy because of the Easter holidays, along with about 1000 passengers. 44 people died and 400 were injured as 5 cars of the front train were destroyed by the impact.

1954 toured Elizabeth II during her first visit to Australia the State of Victoria in a Court train, which was provided to it by the Victorian Railways available.

Today

Traditionally, the transport of agricultural products was an important freight. The transport of live cattle but was given up in 1986, the same year in which the flagship trains Spirit of Progress and Southern Aurora were hired. The railway infrastructure is further the state of Victoria. The choice of a number of railway companies. These include Metro Trains Melbourne, drive the the Melbourne S -Bahn electric railcars, V / Line, which offer national regional and long-distance transport with diesel-powered trains and a number of freight companies, such as Pacific National, El Zorro and QR National. The transport of goods by rail is still playing the bulk and container traffic a certain role, but had since the Second World War, give rise to a considerable extent on the road.

The maximum permitted speed is nowadays generally at 130 km / h on a few sections at 160 km / h the maximum load at 20 tons. The permissible length of freight trains is 1200 m, on the main routes into the neighboring States 1500 m.