New England Online > Geography > Railways & Trams > Intercity Rail Services
Intercity Rail Services
| New England Rail Authority Intercity Rail Network |
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| Network Map | |
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| Large Map of the Network | |
| General Information | |
| Established: | 2013 |
| Lines: | 7 |
| Stops: | - |
| Daily Passengers: | 25,000 |
| Administration | |
| Executive Director: | Tobias Wheeler |
| Budget: | C290million |
New England has a large intercity rail network. All major cities and towns are linked together with high-speed rail lines with regular services running at all hours of the day.
Almost all services are carried by a fleet of electric powered high speed InterCity Express (ICE 4) trains that were purchased from Germany in 2042. ICE's are capable of reaching speeds of 280km/hr on the majority of the New England rail network. At these speeds, it is possible for trains to move between the major urban centres in under three hours.
Services
Intercity services run twenty-four hours a day and on every day of the year. At present, there are seven domestic services, and one international service to Sydney, Australia. Most services run from the Intercity Rail Terminal located in Armidale's West End.
All services are provided by the New England Rail Authority through the Intercity Rail Unit which was established in 2013. The current services are:
- Coffs Harbour ICE
- Midland Nothern ICE
- North East ICE
- South East ICE
- Pacific ICE
- Western ICE
- North West ICE
Network
The first intercity services ran from Grafton to Wauchope and from Armidale to Glen Innes in late 2013. Over next twenty years, new lines were built and had passenger services added to them as they were opened. The newest line is the Southern Line, which runs from Armidale to Port Macquarie. The construction of the line cost C3.2 billion, but was opened ahead of schedule in 2035.
The speeds required for effective high speed travel have meant that a significant upgrade of the national rail network was needed after independence. Most of the network did not conform the necessary grade and curves that safe high speed travel require. This meant that large sections of track has been by-passed or rebuilt to speed up up the network. In many areas, large tunnels have been required to preserve farming land or nature reserves. Despite the cost, the benefits have been apparent, as it is now far easier to move people and freight around the rail system.
