Sydney–Brisbane Rail Corridor
The Sydney–Brisbane railway corridor consists of the 987-kilometre (613-mile) long 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard-gauge main line between the Australian state capitals of Brisbane (Queensland) and Sydney (New South Wales), and the lines immediately connected to it.
Description
The main line consists of:
- the 195-kilometre (121 mi) Main North Line from Sydney Central station to Telarah station, in Maitland, and
- the 792-kilometre (492 mi) North Coast line from Telarah to Roma Street station, Brisbane.
Freight trains operate along the entire corridor, as does a daily (each way) XPT passenger service, in addition to a service to Casino.
History
Originally the corridor consisted of 1435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge track in New South Wales and 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge track in Queensland, which met at a break-of-gauge station at Wallangarra. In 1930 the NSW North Coast line was extended from Casino to Brisbane making through services possible, using a rail ferry for the river crossing in Grafton until the Grafton Bridge opened in 1932. The superseded Main Northern railway line, which went to Wallangarra, now terminates near Armidale.
Gallery
![]() |
![]() |
|||
A daily XPT service between Sydney and Brisbane travels the full 987 kilometres (613 miles) length of the corridor | The northbound Brisbane Limited at Yeerongpilly in 1987 was locomotive-hauled | |||
![]() |
![]() |
|||
A southbound goods train in 1987 near Kyogle, where until 1930 passengers and freight alike had to change between standard gauge (NSW) and narrow gauge (Qld) | Staff operation, in which tokens authorizing access to track sections are physically exchanged, has now been superseded by Centralised traffic control in the corridor |
See also
- Northern Sydney Freight Corridor – a package of capacity improvements between Sydney and Newcastle