Celebrations mark rail centenary
14/09/12 ABC News
Six locomotives have been coupled for a trip to Port Augusta to commemorate the centenary of work starting on the trans-Australian railway.
The modern locomotives have formed a single train which has left Adelaide, and will arrive at Port Augusta alongside the historic Pichi Richi steam train.
Australasian Railway Association CEO Bryan Nye said it was probably the only chance to see so many locomotives in a single train.
"So many people's grandparents or parents were involved in the rail industry and I think it's that romance and that involvement with the past that keeps people really fascinated by it all," he said.
"Port Augusta was the centre of the Commonwealth railways. It was always where the east meets west and it's always been a very high-profile and a key railway town."
The Federal and South Australian Transport Ministers, Anthony Albanese and Patrick Conlon, will be part of the Port Augusta celebrations.
Trans-Australian railway
- The 1,960-kilometre rail line was a major undertaking by the Commonwealth and a key condition of Western Australia agreeing to join the Federation in 1901
- It took five years to build the line and construction continued during World War I
- The line was completed on October 17 1917
- The first train from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie took almost 43 hours to complete the journey
- In the early days the trans-Australian railway carried three trains per week in each direction, moving 24,000 passenger and 21 tonnes [sic] of freight annually
- Now the line carries 28 double-stacked freight trains weekly
- As well, the Indian Pacific and Ghan passenger trains move more than 130,000 people annually
Celebrations mark trans-Australia rail centenary
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Re: Celebrations mark trans-Australia rail centenary
For photos of the ARA Special
Total overkill 20,000+ HP for 5 carriages
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27106288@N04/
750km round trip for 4 photo opportunities, fortunately there were track-work speed restrictions. Bit difficult chasing a train rated at 120kph, with a road speed limit of 110.
Everyone had their fingers crossed that the third unit, the red/white/black Chinaman would last the distance, they have ongoing reliability problems. From China CNR Corporation, the same mob that Transnet have ordered the electrics from. SCT landed 6 units in February, but the remaining 4 in the order are on hold in China, until the reliability problems are sorted, then they can be reworked prior to shipping.
Similar story in NZ, 20 DL class delivered, but after a year of fine tuning, still double the number of failures compared to 30 year old GE and EMD. again 20 units on hold in China, so they can be reworked at the factory.
If Transnet order more Chinaman, you guys are going to live in interesting times
Total overkill 20,000+ HP for 5 carriages
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27106288@N04/
750km round trip for 4 photo opportunities, fortunately there were track-work speed restrictions. Bit difficult chasing a train rated at 120kph, with a road speed limit of 110.
Everyone had their fingers crossed that the third unit, the red/white/black Chinaman would last the distance, they have ongoing reliability problems. From China CNR Corporation, the same mob that Transnet have ordered the electrics from. SCT landed 6 units in February, but the remaining 4 in the order are on hold in China, until the reliability problems are sorted, then they can be reworked prior to shipping.
Similar story in NZ, 20 DL class delivered, but after a year of fine tuning, still double the number of failures compared to 30 year old GE and EMD. again 20 units on hold in China, so they can be reworked at the factory.
If Transnet order more Chinaman, you guys are going to live in interesting times