State Rail Authority

Last updated

Sraheada.gif
44213 44224 double jumbos broadmeadow loco 1990.jpg
Two 442 Class engines in State Rail livery
Statutory Authority overview
Formed1 July 1980
Preceding Statutory Authority
Dissolved31 December 2003
Superseding Statutory Authority
Jurisdiction New South Wales
HeadquartersSydney
Statutory Authority executive
Key document

The State Rail Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of New South Wales from July 1980 until December 2003.

Contents

History

44 & 45 south of Kyogle in 1987 Dia 0228.jpg
44 & 45 south of Kyogle in 1987

The Transport Authorities Act 1980 separated the functions of the Public Transport Commission (formerly responsible for all public transport) and established the State Rail Authority. The State Rail Authority assumed responsibility for trains, while the Urban Transit Authority responsibility for buses and ferries. [1] [2]

In July 1982 a new colour scheme developed by Phil Belbin of red, yellow, orange and white was unveiled, which was commonly referred to as the "candy colours". [3] The L7 logo used by the Public Transport Commission was retained, albeit with the dark and light blue replaced with red and orange. Around this time, they also gave playing cards and soap to passengers.[ citation needed ]

Electrification

During its tenure the State Rail Authority completed a number of electrification projects:

Rolling Stock

The State Rail Authority introduced new 80 Class, 81 Class and 86 Class locomotives used on both freight and country passenger services, K set, C set, Tangara, Millennium and V set double deck electric passenger trains and the XPT. It also placed an order for the 82 Class and 90 Class locomotives that were delivered to FreightRail in 1994. A fleet of Denning and Scania coaches was purchased to replace withdrawn country rail services. [9]

Inherited Locomotives and Multiple Units
NameImageBuild YearWithdrawn
42 Class
4201, 16/09/2017 4201 Return to Service Trip 16-09-2017.jpg
4201, 16/09/2017
1955/19561983
421 Class
42103 and GM22 42103 GM22 Mildura.jpg
42103 and GM22
1965/19661986
422 Class 1969/1970n/a
44 Class
Several 44 Class locomotives 4466 4405 4461 4472 4465 4479 broadmeadow loco 1990.jpg
Several 44 Class locomotives
1957/19671997
442 Class
44231 Dia 0226.jpg
44231
1970/19731994
45 Class 1962/19641994
47 Class
4705 4705 broadmeadow loco 1990.jpg
4705
1972/19731989
48 Class
A pair of 48 Class Locomotives 48 Class Diesels at Narrabri West - panoramio.jpg
A pair of 48 Class Locomotives
1959/1970n/a
49 Class
4916 Locomotive 4916 Thirlmere.jpg
4916
1960/19641995, later 1997
70 Class 1960/19611986
73 Class
7318 Candy 7318.jpg
7318
1970/19731987/1990
80 Class 1979/19832003
X100 Class
X101 X101 petersham.jpg
X101
19621992
46 Class 1956/19681996
85 Class 1979/19801998
Railmotors
CPH 19231985
BPH19341983
Silver City Comet
DP 104 New South Wales Railway Museum 115.jpg
DP 104
19371989
FP
FP8 Pay Bus FP 8.JPG
FP8
19671986
400/500 Class 19381983
600/700 Class
Byron bay solar train 600/700 rail motor waiting for its next service Railmotor.jpg
Byron bay solar train 600/700 rail motor waiting for its next service
1949/19501994
620/720 Class 19612007
660/760 Class 19731994
DEB Set
HPF 954 HPF 954 Interior.JPG
HPF 954
1951/19601994
1110 Class 19611993
1200 Class 19701993
Standard Suburban Stock
F1 Sydney Red Rattler at Flemington.jpg
F1
1925/19261992
Tulloch Single Deck Stock 19501992
Sputnik Stock 19571993
U Set "U Boat"
CF 5003 NSW U set (CF 5003) at the Junee Roundhouse Museum.jpg
CF 5003
19581996
Tulloch Double Deck Stock
C3804 New South Wales Railway Museum 117.jpg
C3804
19641980/2004
V Sets
V25 Blue Mountains line.jpg
V25
1970n/a
S Sets 19722019
Inherited Coach Stock
NameImageBuild YearWithdrawn
S Type 19351989
N Type 1939late 1980s
HUB Type
FH 2230 FH 2230.JPG
FH 2230
19481994, later 2000
RUB Type 19491994, later 2000
Stainless Type 19611993
Pre-Booz Locomotives, Multiple Units and Coaches
NameImageBuild YearWithdrawn
81 Class 1982/1986n/a
XPT 1982n/a, proposed 2027
K Set
R16 (original classification) Suburban DD set CT 573.jpg
R16 (original classification)
1981n/a
C Set 19862021
T Set "Tangara"
T90 T90 (Tangara) at Central Station, Sydney.jpg
T90
1988n/a
86 Class 1983/19852002
Post-Booz Locomotives and Multiple Units
NameImageBuild YearWithdrawn
82 Class
8223 Goods train - panoramio.jpg
8223
1994/1995n/a
90 Class 1994n/a
PL Class 1999/2001n/a
Xplorer
P2 Countrylink-Xplorer-2502-at-Central.jpg
P2
1993n/a
Endeavour
N3 CityRail-Endeavour-2803.jpg
N3
1992n/a
G Set
G6 Cityrail-Tangara-G6-ext.jpg
G6
1994converted to T sets in 2010
M Set
M32 Cityrail-millennium-M32-ext.jpg
M32
2002/2005n/a

Booz Allen Hamilton review and restructure

44218 in FreightCorp livery alongside 7317 in the candy livery at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot circa 1990 44218 7317 broadmeadow loco roundhouse 1990.jpg
44218 in FreightCorp livery alongside 7317 in the candy livery at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot circa 1990

Following the election of the Greiner State Government in March 1988, consultants Booz Allen Hamilton were commissioned to prepare a report into NSW rail services. In November 1988, before the report was complete, the North Coast Overnight Express to Grafton, the Northern Mail to Moree and Tenterfield, the Bathurst day train, the Western Mail to Dubbo and the Canberra Monaro Express to Cooma all ceased. [10]

After receiving the Booz Allen Hamilton report, the government released its response in July 1989 under the title CountryLink 2000. It was announced the number of staff employed on country rail operations would fall from 18,000 to 10,000, including the withdrawal of staff from 94 country railway stations and the Nyngan – Bourke, Queanbeyan – Cooma and Glen Innes – Wallangarra lines would close.

Several country passenger services ceased over the next few years including the Silver City Comet , Northern Tablelands Express , Canberra XPT , Brisbane Limited , Pacific Coast Motorail , South Coast Daylight Express , Intercapital Daylight and Sydney/Melbourne Express. These were replaced either by XPT sets, EMU/DMU sets or coaches. Coach services which had been operated by the State Rail Authority's own fleet were contracted out to private operators. The report had recommended closing all country passenger services as they were judged unviable, however this was not politically acceptable. [11] [12]

The State Rail Authority was divided into business units:

CityRail adopted a blue and yellow colour scheme including L7 logo, CountryLink a blue, white and grey scheme and FreightRail a blue and yellow scheme.

July 1996 restructure

On 1 July 1996, the State Rail Authority was restructured into four distinct entities by the Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Corporatisation and Restructuring) Act 1996 [13] [14] to separate infrastructure from operations as required by the Competition Policy Reform Act 1995. [15] [16] [17] This was part of the process of moving to an open access regime.

The entities were: [14]

February 1998 restructure

Another restructure in February 1998 saw the State Rail Authority split into four operating divisions: [14] [18]

January 2001 restructure

In January 2001, the Rail Access Corporation and Railway Services Authority were merged into the Rail Infrastructure Corporation that took responsibility for ownership and maintenance of the infrastructure. [19] [20]

January 2004 restructure and wind down

In January 2004, after much criticism and public perceptions of blame shifting between units for operational failings, RailCorp was formed taking over the passenger train operations from the residual State Rail Authority (CityRail and CountryLink) and responsibility for maintaining the greater metropolitan network from the Rail Infrastructure Corporation. [21] [22]

By June 2006 much of the operational function had been transferred, with the State Rail Authority in the process of being wound down. [23]

Publication

From September 1981 until June 1989, State Wide was the SRA's inhouse journal. [24]

See also

References

  1. Transport Authorities Act 1980 (NSW)
  2. State Rail Authority of New South Wales (I) Archived 24 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine NSW Government State Records
  3. "Genesis of the Candy Colours". Railway Digest August 1985
  4. Railway Sign Official Opening Gosford – Wyong Electrification 3 April 1982 Archived 27 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine Powerhouse Museum Collection
  5. "The Official Opening of Newcastle Rail Electrification" Railway Digest July 1984
  6. "Wollongong Electrification Open at Last" Railway Digest March 1986
  7. "Electric trains reach Richmond" Railway Digest September 1991
  8. "Dapto electrics spark timetable changes" Railway Digest February 1993
  9. "State Rail Coach Services – The Vehicles" Australian Bus Panorama 9/3 October 1993
  10. "End of the Passengers but Not the Politics" Railway Digest December 1989
  11. "CountryLink 2000" Railway Digest August 1989
  12. Moore, M Lagan, B. SRA takes axe to 8000 jobs Sydney Morning Herald 14 July 1989
  13. Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Corporatisation and Restructuring) Act 1996 Archived 1 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine New South Wales Parliament 1996
  14. 1 2 3 State Rail Authority of New South Wales (II) Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine NSW Government State Records
  15. Competition Policy Reform Act 1995 Archived 4 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine Australian Parliament 20 July 1995
  16. "State Rail Restructure Announced" Railway Digest" May 1996 page 7
  17. Annual Report 30 June 1997 Archived 25 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine State Rail Authority
  18. Annual Report 30 June 1998 Archived 25 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine State Rail Authority
  19. Rail Infrastructure Corporation Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine NSW Government State Records
  20. Annual Report 30 June 2001 Archived 25 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine Rail Infrastructure Corporation
  21. Rail Corporation of New South Wales Archived 29 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine NSW Government State Records
  22. Annual Report 30 June 2004 Archived 25 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine RailCorp
  23. Annual Report 30 June 2006 Archived 25 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine State Rail Authority
  24. "State Wide" Rail Staff Newsletter Western Sydney Records Centre

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