Rail transport in New South Wales
In 1989, the SRA was split into CityRail, CountryLink and FreightCorp, the latter business being sold in 2001 to Pacific National.
They are: Since 2003, the NSW interstate, Sydney metropolitan freight, Hunter Valley coal, and country branch line networks have been run by private operators.
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.
Construction of the shorter and single-gauge North Coast railway line between Sydney and Brisbane commenced in 1905 and was completed with the opening of the Grafton Bridge in 1932.
[14][15] The last main line was completed to Broken Hill in 1927, connecting with the South Australian Railways at a break of gauge.
He persuaded the New South Wales legislature to pass an Act on 27 July 1852 requiring all railways in the colony to be of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge.
The Sydney Railway Company encountered many troubles: engineers came and went; real estate required became expensive and difficult to acquire; money, supplies and manpower ran short, partly because of a gold rush.
Eventually the property of the Sydney Railway Company was transferred to the government of New South Wales on 3 September 1855.
The most recent addition to the suburban network is the South West Rail Link, opened in 2015.
Another branch was built from Lidcombe to Regents Park in 1912 and extended to join the Main Southern Line at Cabramatta in 1924, creating an alternative route to Liverpool.
Victorian Railways broad gauge line from Wodonga was extended to Albury station in 1883.
The Main Western line was extended from Granville to the current Parramatta station and Blacktown in 1860 and Penrith in 1863.
A section of the current main line from Sydney to Broken Hill, was built from Orange to Molong (1885), Parkes (1893), Condobolin (1898) and Trida (1919).
[21] At Cockburn, the Silverton Tramway connected with the South Australian Railways system to Port Pirie and via a break of gauge at Terowie to Adelaide.
In 1969 the Broken Hill – Port Pirie was standardised, completing the Sydney – Perth standard gauge link.
The Illawarra line was opened in stages progressively southward from Sydney starting in 1884 and reaching Wollongong in 1887 and Bomaderry, near Nowra in 1893.
The first section of the Main North line was built in the Hunter Valley by the New South Wales Government Railways in 1857.
The final section between Strathfield and Newcastle was completed by the opening of the Hawkesbury River railway bridge in 1889.
[23][24] Meanwhile, the CBD and Southeast Light Rail was built anew, but much of its route mimics Sydney's historic tram network.
A number of other private railways have been built in New South Wales to serve coal mines, steel works, notably the Port Kembla steel works, formerly operated by BHP (now BlueScope) and quarries, especially in the first half of the 20th century.
Opened in 1908, both states shared construction costs for the line but the profit (or loss) would be Victoria's.
