Transport in Australia
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Transport in Australia is a highly significant part of the infrastructure of the Australian economy, since the distances are large and the country has a relatively low population density.
Railways
Main article: Rail transport in Australia
The railway network is large, comprising a total of 33,819 km (2,540 km electrified) of track: 3,719 km broad gauge, 15,422 km standard gauge, 14,506 km narrow gauge and 172 km dual gauge. Rail transport started in the various colonies at different dates. Privately owned railways started the first lines, and struggled to succeed on a remote, huge, and sparsely populated continent, and government railways dominated. Although the various colonies had been advised by London to choose a common gauge, the colonies ended up with different gauges.
National rail services
The Great Southern Railway, owned by Serco Asia Pacific, operates three trains: the Indian Pacific (Sydney-Adelaide-Perth), The Ghan (Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin), and The Overland (Melbourne-Adelaide) [link]. NSW owned CountryLink services link Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne via Sydney. Since the extension of the Ghan from Alice Springs to Darwin was completed in 2004, all mainland Australian capital cities are linked by standard gauge rail, for the first time.State and city rail services
There are various state and city rail services operated by a combination of government and private entities, the most prominent of these include V/Line (regional trains and buses in Victoria); Connex Melbourne which operates the Melbourne suburban railway network; RailCorp operating all passenger rail services in New South Wales including (CityRail and CountryLink); and Queensland Rail (QR) operating TravelTrain and the CityTrain network, South-East Queensland's commuter railway network under the TransLink scheme. A full list can be found the main rail transport in Australia article.Mining railways
Four heavy-duty mining railways carry iron ore to ports in the northwest of Western Australia. These railways carry no other traffic, and are isolated by deserts from all other railways.
Cane railways
In Queensland about 15 sugar mills have narrow gauge (610mm/2' 0" gauge) cane tramways that deliver sugar cane to the mills.
Highways
Main article: Highways in Australia
'''The Australian Highway System is broken up into 3 different categories for rural Australia:
- Federal Highways
- State Highways
- and Local Roads
Small Information from the CIA world fact book
The road network is again extensive, comprising a total of 913,000 km broken down into:
- Paved: 353,331 km (including 13,630 km of expressways)
- Unpaved: 559,669 km (1996 estimate)
Waterways
Australia's inland waterways are not a significant means commercial transport. In the 19th century, paddle steamers were used on the Murray River, but the water levels are highly unreliable, making the river impassable for large parts of the year. The steamers proved unable to compete with rail, and later road, transport.
Traffic on inland waterways is therefore largely restricted to private recreational craft.
Pipelines
There are several pipline systems including:
- Crude oil: 2,500 km
- Petroleum products: 500 km
- Natural gas: 5,600 km
- Water
- * Perth to Kalgoorlie
- * Morgan on the Murray River to Adelaide, Whyalla, Port Lincoln
Ports and harbours
Mainland
General
- Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Fremantle,
- Geelong, Gladstone, Mackay, Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney, Townsville, Wollongong
- Port Lincoln
Iron Ore
Tasmania
See also: List of Australian ports.
Merchant marine vessels
The number of merchant marine vessels totals 57 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,657,194 GRT/2,206,574 DWT. With bulk ships (28), cargo (4), chemical tankers (4), container (1), liquified gas (4), passenger (2), petroleum tankers (8), roll-on/roll-off (6) (these are 1999 estimates).
Airports
Main article: List of Australian airports.
Summary
There are many airports around Australia paved or unpaved. The main airports in Australia (in no special order) are
- Kingsford Smith International Airport (Sydney)
- Melbourne Airport
- Brisbane Airport
- Perth Airport
- Darwin International Airport
- Adelaide International Airport
- Cairns International Airport
- Canberra International Airport
- Hobart International Airport
- Gold Coast Airport
- *More Australian Airports found here: List of Australian airports
A 2004 estimate put the number of airports at 448.
Airports with paved runways
Total: 305
- Over 3,047 m: 10
- 2,438 to 3,047 m: 12
- 1,524 to 2,437 m: 131
- 914 to 1,523 m: 139
- Under 914 m: 13 (2004 estimate)
Airports with unpaved runways
Total:143
- 1,524 to 2,437 m: 17
- 914 to 1,523 m: 112
- Under 914 m: 14 (2004 estimate)
Note:
sourced from CIA world fact book http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html/
See also
- Public Transport Users Association - public transport lobby group for Victoria
Sources
- Some information in this article has been taken from the CIA World Factbook, 2000 edition.
External links
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