page_title: Rail transport in Australia
section_title: Rail infrastructure
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in Australia / Rail infrastructure
caption_attribution_description: Looking east on the Trans-Australian Railway line from where the train stopped at Cook, South Australia. This stretch (478 km, 297 mi) is the longest stretch of straight track in the world.
context_page_description: Rail transport in Australia is a component of the Australian transport system. It is to a large extent state-based. As of 2018, the Australian rail network consisted of a total of 36,064 kilometres of track built to three major track gauges: it had 14,814 kilometres of standard gauge, 15,625 kilometres of broad gauge, and 4,225 kilometres of narrow gauge lines. Additionally, about 1,400 kilometres of 610 mm / 2 ft gauge lines support the sugar-cane industry.
  Except for a small number of private railways, most of the Australian railway network infrastructure is government-owned, either at the federal or state level.
  The Australian federal government is involved in the formation of national policies, and provides funding for national projects. Rail transport in Australia has often been neglected in favour of Australian road transport.
context_section_description: Construction and maintenance of network infrastructure is consolidated into non-profit government bodies and contracted private: in the case of the interstate network and various non-urban railways of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, the Australian Government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC); the New South Wales Regional Network, John Holland Rail; and rail infrastructure throughout the southern half of Western Australia, Arc Infrastructure.
  ARTC "has a working relationship with Queensland Rail about the use of the 127 kilometres of standard gauge line between the Queensland border and Fisherman Island. ARTC intends to start discussions with Queensland about leasing this track once the NSW arrangements are bedded down". ARTC also maintains the NSW Hunter Valley network under contract.
  On 1 January 2012, John Holland commenced the operation and maintenance of the New South Wales Regional Network under contract from Transport for NSW, comprising 2,700 kilometres of operational freight and passenger rail lines.
  Arc Infrastructure has a lease until 2049 on 5,100 kilometres of Western Australian rail infrastructure, from Geraldton in the north, to Leonora and Kalgoorlie in the east, and south to Esperance, Albany and Bunbury. It is responsible for maintaining the network and granting access to operators.
  Other railways continue to be integrated, although access to their infrastructure is generally required under National Competition Policy principles agreed by the Federal, State and Territory governments:
  Queensland – Queensland Rail and Aurizon
  Tasmania – TasRail
  Victorian non-interstate lines – V/Line and Metro Trains Melbourne
  South Australian non-interstate lines – One Rail Australia
  Tarcoola-Darwin line – One Rail Australia
  Inland Rail is a railway construction project extending from Melbourne to Brisbane along a route west of the Great Dividing Range. Construction in stages commenced in 2018 and is scheduled to be completed in 2025, using existing routes where appropriate.
caption: Looking along the Trans-Australian Railway
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