The Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor consists of the 828-kilometre (514-mile) long 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard-gauge main line between the Australian state capitals of Melbourne, Victoria and Adelaide, South Australia, and the lines immediately connected to it.[1] Most of its traffic is freight; the only passenger train along the entire route is the twice-weekly passenger service The Overland, operated by Journey Beyond.
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| Locale | Victoria and South Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Victorian Railways and South Australian Railways | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge since 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous gauge | 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) from 1887 to 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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History
From the 1850s, the Victorian Railways and South Australian Railways 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad-gauge networks were established and expanded. The South Australian main line – the Adelaide-Wolseley line – was connected to the Victorian system at Serviceton in 1887. This was the first single-gauge link between two Australian colonies ;[2] other connections were only constructed after another 50 years because of the failure of the colonies (later, states) to agree on a uniform gauge.
Conversion to standard gauge and rerouting
In 1983, studies by the Victorian Railways and Australian National Railways Commission indicated that about $400 million would be required to construct a standard-gauge link between Melbourne and Adelaide. Various routes were considered, including via Pinnaroo, Ouyen and Maryborough, and the existing route via Ballarat, Ararat, Horsham, Bordertown and Murray Bridge.[3] The route eventually chosen avoided the steep grades of the Ballarat line by going via North Shore[4][5] (near North Geelong) and Cressy, joining the old route at Ararat to continue to Adelaide.[6] The line was converted to standard gauge in 1995 under a federal infrastructure program.[7]
Track and gauge
The line is single track for the entire route with the exception of a short dual-gauge section near Melbourne and a number of 1500–1600 metres (4900–5200 feet) passing loops every 15–45 kilometres (9.3–28.0 miles). Some branch lines were also converted to standard gauge.
References
Sources
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