New England Online > Geography > Transport > Railways & Trams
Rail Transport
New England has established a large and state of the art railway and tram system. The operation of railways in this country is considered vital to the economic and social development of the country. Trains operate across all counties, and service all the major cities and towns.
The state of rail before independence was considered unacceptable by the government, with most of network in a state of decay and in many areas, abandoned outright. There was no tram network at all, with all urban public transport coming from buses, where it existed at all. Today, 90% of all freight is moved by rail through freight transit centres. Around 61% of New Englander's in Armidale and Port Macquarie utilise the tram and rail networks at least once a week.
- Railways
- Administration
- Infrastructure
- Rolling Stock
- Trams
- History of Rail Transport
Railways
Trains are the primary means of transport in New England. Freight and passenger services operate from all major centres along well graded tracks that have undergone a massive upgrade in the last thirty years.
Administration - The New England Rail Authority is the government agency responsible for the operation and maintenance of the national railway system. It operates all intercity passenger and freight services, and maintains the infrastructure of lines, signals and stations. Management for the suburban network is run by the Armidale Rail Commission and Port Rail, both of which are county owned agencies. International services to Australia are provided by Explorer Connect.
Infrastructure - The New England rail network is made up of five main lines and a host of smaller branch lines. Almost all of the network is built to the standard gauge of 1435mm (4"8½') with a small amount of dual gauge track incorporating a configuation for 1,067 mm (3"6') gauge trains has also been built, although it is presently not used. Almost all of network is now electrified, although five diesel locomotives remain in service to operate on the unelectrified branch lines.
Rollingstock - There have been a number of locomotives in service with New England Rail since 2012. The current fleet of 125 locomotives is almost exclusively powered by 25 kV AC overhead electrification, although the diesel loco, which was once ubiquitous, has been reduced to five surviving units. Initially using decommissioned locomotives from New South Wales, after 2020 NERA began to purchase new trains from overseas to replace these aging locos. In more recent years, there has been a move to build rollingstock locally, using both overseas and new designs.
Trams
Trams are used for mass public transport in some parts of New England, with services run in Armidale and Port Macquarie (in other cities buses are used). The aim of the Tram network is service areas that are distant from the rail system and service small networks around the various urban villages. In both cities, the tram network is a mixture of on and off street systems. Trams have their own lanes on most streets, although they are expected to share their lane with other transit vehicles such as trolley buses. A typical road will have one lane each way for cars on the outside and in the centre two tram tracks. If the road is wide enough, there is often a parking lane or clearway on the far outside of the road.
Trams must follow the same traffic signals as cars, although at some traffic lights, trams have a separate set of signals that control when a tram can continue along the road. The road code specifies that when a car wishes to turn right over the lane of a tram, the car must give way at all times to the tram. To prevent accidents, tram only signals will often change to green a few seconds before the main set of lights, thus giving the tram time to clear an intersection before a car needs to turn right. At other intersections, turning right is forbidden outright.
History of Rail Transport
Beginning in 1881 when the railway reached Armidale, the railway system spread rapidly across the region. Despite the occasional slow process of it's building in some places due to terrain and inter-town rivalry, all towns had been connected to Sydney by 1908. As the region continued to grow, demand grew for railways to be connected between many of the towns in the region, and thus making New England independent of the rest of New South Wales in terms of transport. MP's from Sydney saw New England's attempts for industrial autonomy as an attempt to succeed from New South Wales, and as a result the network was allowed to decay.
By 2010, the network was either destroyed or had been so badly neglected it was almost useless. A massive investment was undertaken after formal independence, allowing the network to be redeveloped. Most of the system was isolated both from other parts of New England and from Australia. In the first ten years, new lines were built from Inverell to Glen Innes, from Inverell to Barraba, from Inverell to Ashford, from Guyra to Coramba and from Grafton to Yamba. This development allowed the rail network to take over as the major mover of freight and passengers across the country.
Once the network was re-established, thought was given to the creation of metro rail systems in the growing centres of Armidale and Port Macquarie. Seven new lines have been created and are managed by the Armidale Rail Commission and Port Rail respectively.
Individually, towns such as Guyra, Glen Innes and Inverell have benefited greatly as they have become junctions for travelers and freight handling. Following the railway came many businesses. Guyra, for example has became a major point for the collection and distribution of wool. Glen Innes is now a major wool and timber loading point with a huge shipping facility now in place at the North Glen Innes Junction yard.
