Rail Transport in New South Wales - History

History

New South Wales' railways date from 10 December 1831 when the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway, located at the intersection of Brown & 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.

Many proposals for routing the proposed lines were put forth, researched, surveyed and reported on. Three main routes for the Main South Line were reported on by Mr. Woore. There was three main routes researched for crossing the Blue Mountains requiring much effort just for the surveys.

In 1854, the first public line was built from Sydney to Parramatta Junction (actually in Granville). The first six stations were; Sydney, Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood, Homebush, and Parramatta.

After two decisions to change the rail gauge, problems in raising capital and difficulties in construction, the line was opened in 1854, and lines have been built to standard gauge ever since. The Main Southern line was built in stages from Parramatta Junction to the Victorian border at Albury between 1855 and 1881 and connected to the Victorian Railways at a break-of-gauge in 1883.

The standard gauge connection from Albury to Melbourne was opened in 1962, completing the Sydney–Melbourne railway. Lines were built to connect the ports of Sydney and Newcastle to the rural interior, and the Main Western line was built from Parramatta Junction line to the north west of the state, reaching Bourke between 1860 and 1885. The Main North line was built from Newcastle to Wallangarra on the Queensland border and connecting with Queensland Railway's line to Brisbane at a break of gauge between 1857 and 1888. Sydney and Newcastle were connected in 1889.

Much of the construction of the Main Western, Main Southern, and Main North lines were completed under the supervision of John Whitton, considered the Father of New South Wales railways, Engineer-in-Charge for the New South Wales Railways, serving between 1856 and 1899.

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. The last main line was completed to Broken Hill in 1927, connecting with the South Australian Railways at a break of gauge. In 1969, the South Australian section was standardised, completing the Sydney–Perth standard gauge link. Meanwhile branch lines proliferated over the settled east of the state, including the Illawarra line to Wollongong and Nowra completed in 1893. In 1926 work began on electrifying Sydney's urban railways and connecting them together via new lines.