The ''Australind'' is a rural passenger train service in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

operated by

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

on the South Western Railway between

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

and Bunbury.

History

The ''Australind'' service began on 24 November 1947 and was hauled initially by U class steam locomotives. With an average speed of , it was the fastest narrow gauge passenger train in Australia. It was named to commemorate the city of that name envisioned by Marshall Waller Clifton on Leschenault Inlet 100 years previously. The current hamlet of Australind, a

satellite town Satellite cities or satellite towns are smaller municipalities that are adjacent to a principal city which is the core of a metropolitan area. They differ from mere suburbs, subdivisions and especially bedroom communities in that they have ...

of Bunbury, has never had a passenger rail service, nor even a railway line. In February 1958, X class diesel locomotives took over. The service was relaunched on 1 October 1960 with onboard catering removing the need for an elongated stop at Pinjarra. On 16 November 1987, the current ADP/ADQ class railcars took over the service reducing journey times to 2 hours 30 minutes.

Rolling stock

When introduced, the train consisted of new carriages built by the

Midland Railway Workshops The Midland Railway Workshops in Midland, Western Australia, were the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) for over 80 years. History The first railway workshops in Western Australia were located at Fremantle and ...

. In August 1985,

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respons ...

awarded

Comeng Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engi ...

, Bassendean a contract for five Westrail ADP/ADQ class railcars, three ADPs with driving cabs and two ADQs, using a similar body shell and interior fitout to the

New South Wales XPT The New South Wales ''XPT'' (short for eXpress Passenger Train) is a class of diesel-powered passenger trains built by Comeng and ABB Transportation. Based on the British Rail designed Intercity 125 High Speed Train, each XPT set is made up ...

carriages. Each carriage was powered by a

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KTA19 coupled to a

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transmission. They usually operate as a three or four carriage set. Five carriage set operation is not possible due to the limited platform length available at Perth station. In July 2003, the DMUs were painted in a new livery in line with the formation of

. In 2007, the DMUs were painted white as part of a refurbishment program. In 2010/11, new seats were fitted. Two new Australind trains, each consisting of a three-car set, to 2023 for a cost of $54 million Australian dollars. The new diesel-multiple-units will be built by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Av ...

in Bellevue as part of the $1.25 billion Australian dollar contract to deliver 246 Transperth C-series carriages.

Route

The ''Australind'' departs from

traversing the metropolitan Armadale line to Armadale, then the South Western Railway to Bunbury.

Stations

* Armadale * Byford * Mundijong *

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North Dandalup North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

* Pinjarra * Waroona * Yarloop * Cookernup * Harvey * Brunswick Junction * Bunbury

References

External links