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.

History

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.State Rail Authority of New South Wales (I) NSW Government State Records

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"."Genesis of the Candy Colours". Railway Digest August 1985 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.

Electrification During its tenure the State Rail Authority completed a number of electrification projects: Gosford – Wyong April 1982Railway Sign Official Opening Gosford – Wyong Electrification 3 April 1982 Powerhouse Museum Collection Wyong – Newcastle June 1984"The Official Opening of Newcastle Rail Electrification" Railway Digest July 1984 Waterfall – Port Kembla February 1986"Wollongong Electrification Open at Last" Railway Digest March 1986 Riverstone – Richmond August 1991"Electric trains reach Richmond" Railway Digest September 1991 Coniston – Dapto January 1993"Dapto electrics spark timetable changes" Railway Digest February 1993

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 A fleet of Denning and Scania coaches was purchased to replace withdrawn country rail services."State Rail Coach Services – The Vehicles" Australian Bus Panorama 9/3 October 1993 +Inherited LocomotivesNameImageBuild YearWithdrawn42 Class1955/19561983421 Class1965/19661986422 Class1969/1970n/a44 Class1957/19671997442 Class1970/1973199445 Class1962/1964199447 Class1972/1973198948 Class1959/1970n/a49 Class1960/19641995, later 199770 Class1960/1961198673 Class1970/19731987/199080 Class1979/19832003X100 Class1962199246 Class 1956/1958199685 Class1979/19801998 +Inherited Railmotors and Multiple UnitsNameImageBuild YearWithdrawnCPH19231985BPH19341983Silver City Comet19371989FP19671986400/500 Class19381983600/700 Class1949/19501994620/720 Class19612007660/760 Class 19731994DEB Set1951/196019941100 Class196119931200 Class19701993Standard Suburban Stock1925/19261992Tulloch Single Deck Stock 19501993W set "Sputnik" 19571993U Set "U Boat"19581996Tulloch Double Deck Stock19641980/2004V Sets19702025–2026S Sets 19722019 +Inherited Coach StockNameImageBuild YearWithdrawnS Type19351989N Type1939late 1980sHUB Type19481994, later 2000RUB Type19491994, later 2000Stainless Type19611993 +Pre-Booz Locomotives, Multiple Units and CoachesNameImageBuild YearWithdrawn81 Class1982/1986n/aXPT1982n/a, proposed 2027K Set19812025–2026 C Set 19862021T Set "Tangara" 1988n/a86 Class1983/19852002 +Post-Booz Locomotives and Multiple UnitsNameImageBuild YearWithdrawn82 Class1994/1995n/a90 Class1994n/aPL Class1999/2001n/aXplorer1993n/a proposed 2027Endeavour1992n/a proposed 2027G Set1994converted to T sets in 2010M Set2002/2005n/a proposed 2040

Booz Allen Hamilton review and restructure

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."End of the Passengers but Not the Politics" Railway Digest December 1989

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."CountryLink 2000" Railway Digest August 1989Moore, M Lagan, B. SRA takes axe to 8000 jobs Sydney Morning Herald 14 July 1989

The State Rail Authority was divided into business units: CityRail: responsible for suburban and interurban passenger services CountryLink: responsible for country passenger services FreightRail: responsible for freight services Rail Estate: responsible for rail property

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 1996Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Corporatisation and Restructuring) Act 1996 New South Wales Parliament 1996State Rail Authority of New South Wales (II) NSW Government State Records to separate infrastructure from operations as required by the Competition Policy Reform Act 1995.Competition Policy Reform Act 1995 Australian Parliament 20 July 1995"State Rail Restructure Announced" Railway Digest May 1996 page 7Annual Report 30 June 1997 State Rail Authority This was part of the process of moving to an open access regime.

The entities were: Freight Rail Corporation: responsible for freight services Rail Access Corporation: responsible for managing track and providing access to public and private operators Railway Services Authority: responsible for track and rolling stock maintenance State Rail Authority: passenger service operator consisting of CityRail and CountryLink

February 1998 restructure Another restructure in February 1998 saw the State Rail Authority split into four operating divisions:Annual Report 30 June 1998 State Rail Authority CityRail Stations CountryLink Operations Passenger Fleet Maintenance

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.Rail Infrastructure Corporation NSW Government State RecordsAnnual Report 30 June 2001 Rail Infrastructure Corporation

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.Rail Corporation of New South Wales NSW Government State RecordsAnnual Report 30 June 2004 RailCorp

By June 2006 much of the operational function had been transferred, with the State Rail Authority in the process of being wound down.Annual Report 30 June 2006 State Rail Authority

Publication From September 1981 until June 1989, State Wide was the SRA's inhouse journal."State Wide" Rail Staff Newsletter Western Sydney Records Centre

See also RailCorp

References

External links