Railways of Australia
Railways in Australia are mainly used for transportation of goods. There is no high-speed rail service in the country. Travel between cities by train is slightly cheaper than air travel on similar routes, but takes longer. Despite this, railways allow you to get to small towns located at a distance from airports. The paths are laid in the most beautiful places, which allows travelers to enjoy the picturesque views.
The state of the railway sector
The railway network covers mainly metropolitan areas such as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane. The length of the network is approximately 41,461 km. There are no railways on the island of Tasmania. The coastal regions of Australia are covered by a fairly dense rail network. In other areas, it has not been developed. Passenger transportation is carried out by several companies: «Australian National Railways», «Western Australia Railways», «Queensland Railways» and others. Rail transport provides more than 42% of the cargo traffic of the Australian Union. Half of these are owned by private transport companies. Length of private lines - 2,400 km.
Private railways in Australia have developed much faster than public railways. Therefore, it is they who cover most of the territory of the state. The railway tracks were built by different enterprises, and therefore the tracks have different widths. The rolling stock also has differences. The transcontinental railroad entered service in 2004, linking Adelaide to Darwin. This road is used for passenger and container transportation. The most famous passenger train is «Gan», which makes a flight in 3 days.
Categories of seats in trains
Australian trains have 1st class berths and seating and economy class seats. Some trains have economy class berths.
The most significant interregional railway is the Great Southern Railway, which is owned by the Serco Group. There are 3 Indian Pacific high-speed trains running along it. Train tickets are expensive. Trains from Melbourne to Adelaide will take 9 hours and cost about $ 100. You can get to Sydney from Adelaide in a day, spending $ 130. Routes and timetables can be viewed on the Seat61 website. For constantly traveling people, there is the Ausrail Pass, which allows you to make an unlimited number of trips during its validity period. A three-month pass costs $ 772, for six months - $ 990.
