Australians have a peculiar reliance on domestic air travel, with the air corridors from Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane among the busiest domestic flight routes in the world.
There is a key imperativeness to flying less, with air travel having a severe environmental impact and bypassing regional communities. Regional trains, meanwhile, slice directly through the countryside and the intervening settlements, for which they provide a crucial service. They do this without the comfort-sacrificing drawbacks of either motor cars or plane travel, nor the emissions of either.
From the 1850s, Australia’s railways were built out rapidly. The first line in New South Wales opened in 1855 from Sydney to Granville. Extensions took the railway across the Blue Mountains and out west. Lines were also built north and south, though gauge differences for a long time required one to change trains at colonial or state borders. From 1962 to 1986, the train service between Sydney and Melbourne was stoically named the Spirit of Progress, a fitting name given the role of railways in Australia’s development.
Today, we are fortunate to still have regional passenger rail at all. In 1989, a report commissioned by the state government recommended replacing country trains, which it deemed financially unviable, with coaches. Some services had already been withdrawn the year prior by the newly-elected Greiner government. Thankfully, it also presented a more politically salient alternative — cutting back and rostering XPTs (Express Passenger Trains) onto every remaining regional service.
An adaptation of the InterCity 125s built by British Rail, the XPT fleet is an engineering marvel. Though high-speed trains by design, they are limited from a potential speed of 200 km/h to a service speed of 160 km/h, where reachable on old winding tracks. As the XPT fleet was rolled out, it slashed travel times by hours. Today, these trains run to Melbourne, Brisbane, Grafton, Casino and Dubbo. Xplorers, introduced in 1993, run to Canberra, Armidale, Moree, Griffith and Broken Hill.
While the XPTs were central to the reinvigoration of country train services in New South Wales, the tribulations faced by regional rail in the latter half of the twentieth century were not uniquely Australian. In Britain, the often-maligned Beeching cuts of the sixties saw mass closures. In New South Wales as elsewhere, areas to which train service ceased are now connected by coaches. However, Millthorpe station — once slated for demolition — in the Central West reopened to trains in 2019 after three decades.
Regional trains today offer a host of comforts, including a reasonably-priced buffet, regularly-served hot meals and a shower. That it takes at least ten hours to take the train to Melbourne and fourteen to Brisbane is presumably the main reason people opt for air travel; there is little else to justify the choice. However, the increased travel time over air travel isn’t the impediment it might be thought of, as one can sleep easily on an overnight train or enjoy scenic views in the day whilst avoiding the hassle of far-flung airports.
Australia does not need flash new long-distance lines as is sometimes suggested, repeatedly leading nowhere. What we can do with is modest improvements to existing infrastructure, duplicating and straightening tracks. This would affordably and significantly reduce travel times, leading to increased patronage as did the XPT rollout. A good example of this approach is provided too by Florida, where existing infrastructure has in the last few years become the basis of a successful high-speed service. If it can work in car-loving America, it can work again here. Victoria, too, has done well with significant improvements to its network.
However, we don’t need to wait for infrastructure improvements for regional train travel to be worthwhile. In fact, in 2023 patronage surged, more than reversing pandemic-induced losses with particular growth on the Sydney-Melbourne route – as air travellers faced disruptions and airfares and petrol became dearer. Return flights to Broken Hill routinely cost more than $600. On the Outback Xplorer? $143.88, as of writing, for Economy Saver.
When I woke up speeding through Victoria on a trip to Melbourne, I stared out the window as the sun rose, provided with complimentary English breakfast tea by the ever-kind train staff, at least one of whom wore a rainbow lanyard.
On the return daytime journey, I hardly took my eyes off the beautiful ever-evolving landscape that lay before me. You get struck by just how sparse most of Australia is. You can go for hours without seeing a town, let alone one warranting a station.
For those towns, the trains are invaluable. They connect regional towns and cities to each other, as well as the major cities. As these towns are hours apart, regional trains between them are an important public transport link accessible to all, including those who don’t have access to a car and can’t afford air fares.
Take the train – it’s worth it.
