Солтүстік Австралия темір жолының тарихы

Former railway line in Northern Territory, Australia

The North Australia Railway was a 1067 narrow gauge railway in the Northern Territory of Australia which ran from the territory capital of Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Birdum, just south of Larrimah. Initially its name was the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway. The first section was opened 1889, the last in 1929. The railway closed in 1976.

Between 1863 and 1911 the Northern Territory was administered by the Government of South Australia. which resulted in a £959,300 contract being awarded to C. & E. Millar of Melbourne. The line reached Pine Creek in 1888 and officially opened on 30 September 1889 as the northernmost outpost of the South Australian Railways. Singhalese and Indian gangs did the grubbing and earthwork and 3000 Chinese labourers laid more than a kilometre of track per day. More than 300 bridges and flood openings were built.

As a consequence of Federation, the Commonwealth (or federal) government took ownership of the railway in 1911, having undertaken to connect Darwin with Adelaide by rail – but, crucially, without the completion date being specified. Since the federal government did not yet have its own railways department, the railway was leased back to the South Australian Government and worked as part of the South Australian railway system.

On the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Australian Army surveyed a rail route for the gap between Birdum and Alice Springs, on which freight had to be carried by road vehicles, but a line was not constructed. The railway experienced very heavy traffic since it was a strategic route to operations north of Australia. In 1944, as many as 147 trains ran per week. Larrimah, kilometres north of Birdum, was used as the railhead because, unlike Birdum, it was on the Stuart Highway. Some wartime improvements were made, however, including new locomotive depots, expanded workshops and additional locomotive water supplies. However, personnel, locomotive power and rolling stock were in critically short supply. In desperation, the Commonwealth Railways converted cattle cars (by lining the open planked sides and installing toilets) to transport troops northwards.

A private company proposed a railway from Birdum to Bourke, New South Wales in 1932. A railway from Dajarra, Queensland to Birdum was considered in 1952 53 but the federal Cabinet decided not to proceed. Construction of a standard gauge railway to Darwin was first seriously proposed in 1965 when construction of a new standard gauge line to Alice Springs was discussed.

In May 1976, the federal government ordered the closure of the entire North Australia Railway line, mainly as a result of the loss of iron ore traffic originating from the Frances Creek mine. All services ceased on 30 June. Maintenance gangs were withdrawn in December 1977. Heavy floods in 1978 destroyed parts of the railway, effectively eliminating any prospect of the railway re opening. In 1985, some rails and steel sleepers were lifted and sent for use in Tasmania.

The Pine Creek railway precinct has been placed in the Northern Territory Heritage Register. It is in the care of the National Trust Northern Territory, as is the Katherine railway station.

Nearly 20 years after the line between Tarcoola and Alice Springs was opened, a consortium was formed to build a standard gauge line between Alice Springs and Darwin. Construction was undertaken with amazing speed and efficiency, lasting 32 months from July 2001 to September 2003. The line broadly followed the original narrow gauge route between Adelaide River and Emungalan but about 70 per cent of the whole route was on a new alignment. Modern engineering standards, much higher than those of its 19th century predecessor, resulted in none of the infrastructure on the alignment, such as it was, being retained other than the Fergusson River bridge. The first freight train from Adelaide reached Darwin in January 2004 and the first passenger service (The Ghan) from Adelaide to Darwin in February 2004, finally fulfilling the 121 year dream of a north–south transcontinental railway.