Pinnaroo railway line (Victoria) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Status | gauge conversion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 25 June 1912 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | 4 October 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Pinnaroo Line serviced the agricultural districts of the Mallee in the Australian states of South Australia and Victoria for the freight of grain, although there were periods of passenger travel on the line in previous years (the last passenger service between Ouyen in Victoria and Pinnaroo in South Australia being in 1968).
The railway line was the means to open up the agricultural lands with the supply of goods and services from rural centres sustaining the remote area. It was completed from Ouyen to Murrayville in 1912 and extended to Pinnaroo in 1915. In 1996 The line stopped at Panitya due to gauge conversion at the state border when the South Australian end was converted to standard gauge. [2] It was booked out of service on 4 October 2007. [3] When the Adelaide to Wolseley line was closed east of Tailem Bend for gauge conversion, the Pinnaroo line became part of the main line between Adelaide and Melbourne for two weeks in April 1995. Journey times increased by 10 to 12 hours. [4] [5]
As part of the Murray Basin Rail Project, the line from Ouyen to Murrayville was upgraded to 19 tonnes axle loading and converted to standard gauge in 2018. [6]
Mallee Highway is a highway connecting Tailem Bend in south-eastern South Australia and Piangil in north-western Victoria, running mostly across the Mallee plains. It forms part of the shortest route between Adelaide and Sydney.
Rail transport in the Australian state of South Australia is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 1435 mm standard gauge links to other states, the 1600 mm broad gauge suburban railways in Adelaide, a freight-only branch from Dry Creek to Port Adelaide and Pelican Point, a narrow-gauge gypsum haulage line on the Eyre Peninsula, and both copper–gold concentrate and coal on the standard-gauge line in the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor north of Tarcoola.
Murrayville is a town on the section of the Mallee Highway and Pinnaroo railway line between Ouyen and the South Australian border. It is about 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of the South Australian border and 536 kilometres (333 mi) north west of the state capital Melbourne, but 268 kilometres (167 mi) east of Adelaide. At the 2016 census, Murrayville had a population of 280, down from 444 ten years before.
Rail gauges in Australia display significant variations, which has presented an extremely difficult problem for rail transport on the Australian continent since the 19th century. As of 2022, there are 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow-gauge railways, 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge railways and 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge railways. In the 19th century, each of the colonies of Australia adopted their own gauges.
The Ararat railway line is a railway line in Victoria, Australia. It links the state capital of Melbourne to the cities of Ballarat and Ararat via the Regional Rail Link.
The North East railway line is a railway line in Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Southern Cross railway station on the western edge of the Melbourne central business district to Albury railway station in the border settlement of Albury-Wodonga, serving the cities of Wangaratta and Seymour, and smaller towns in northeastern Victoria.
Ararat railway station is located on the Serviceton and Western standard gauge lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Ararat, and opened on 7 April 1875.
Ouyen is a closed railway station in Ouyen, on the Mildura railway line, in Victoria, Australia. The station is the junction for the Pinnaroo line westward to Panitya and Pinnaroo.
The Mildura railway line is a heavy rail line in northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Yelta station to Ballarat station via the settlements of Mildura, Ouyen and Maryborough in an approximate south-southeasterly direction. Initial sections of the line opened from Ballarat in 1874 and the line reached Mildura in 1903.
The 49 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the New South Wales Department of Railways between 1960 and 1964.
The Robinvale railway line is a freight only country railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. The line branches from the Mildura line at Dunolly, and at Inglewood the Eaglehawk – Inglewood line connects with the Piangil line outside Bendigo. The parallel Kulwin line junctions from the Robinvale line at Korong Vale then continues northward.
The Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor consists of the 828-kilometre (514-mile) long 1435 mm standard-gauge main line between the Australian state capitals of Melbourne, Victoria and Adelaide, South Australia, and the lines immediately connected to it. Most of its traffic is freight; the only passenger train along the entire route is the twice-weekly passenger service The Overland, operated by Journey Beyond.
The Portland railway line is a railway line in south-western Victoria, Australia. It runs from the main Western standard gauge line at Maroona through Hamilton to the port town of Portland.
The Maryborough–Avoca–Ararat railway is a railway line in western Victoria, Australia. It is one of the few railway lines in the state to have been closed and then reopened. Today it is a standard gauge branch line connecting the Western SG with Bung Bong (ballast) and Dunolly (grain), running through Maryborough station.
The Adelaide–Wolseley railway line is a 313 kilometre line running from Adelaide to Wolseley on the Australian Rail Track Corporation network. It is the South Australian section of the Melbourne–Adelaide railway.
The 700 class is a class of six diesel-electric locomotives based on the Alco DL500G model, built by AE Goodwin, Auburn, New South Wales for the South Australian Railways. They are virtually identical to the New South Wales 442 class locomotive.
The Pinnaroo railway line is a closed railway line in South Australia. It branches off the Adelaide-Wolseley line at Tailem Bend and runs 265.2 kilometres serving several farming communities in the area.
Mount Gambier–Heywood railway line is a 5 ft 3 in line located in Australia which operated from 27 November 1917 to 11 April 1995 between Mount Gambier in the state of South Australia and Heywood in the state of Victoria. It is one of two railway lines built by both state governments following an agreement in 1912 to connect to each other's railway networks. There has been calls for standardisation over the past two decades from Heywood to Wolseley since the Melbourne to Adelaide line was converted in 1995.
The Murray Basin Rail Project is a major railway project in the north-west of Victoria, Australia. The project includes the conversion of a substantial portion of the Victorian freight rail network from the historical broad gauge to the standard gauge used in other parts of Australia, and the upgrading of track to enable higher axle loads for more efficient intrastate freight transfer.
Pinnaroo railway station was located on the Pinnaroo railway line from Tailem Bend to Ouyen. It served the town of Pinnaroo.