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The State Rail Authority, a former
statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example reg ...
of the
Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
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. 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". 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
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s and
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to passengers.


Electrification

During its tenure the State Rail Authority completed a number of electrification projects: *
Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...
Wyong April 1982 *Wyong –
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
June 1984 *
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Port Kembla February 1986 * Riverstone
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
August 1991 * ConistonDapto January 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,
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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 Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...
coaches was purchased to replace withdrawn country rail services.


Booz Allen Hamilton review and restructure

Following the election of the Greiner State Government in March 1988, consultants
Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American company specializing in intelligence, AI, and digital transformation. It is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washing ...
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 Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the ...
and the '' Canberra Monaro Express'' to
Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...
all ceased. 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. The State Rail Authority was divided into business units: *
CityRail CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by State Rail Authority, the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2004 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle and Wollongong, the ...
: responsible for suburban and interurban passenger services *
CountryLink CountryLink was a passenger rail and road service brand that operated in regional areas of New South Wales, and to and from Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. Originally created as a business unit (or sub-brand) of the State Rail Authority of Ne ...
: 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 1996''State 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''. This was part of the process of moving to an
open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...
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 CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by State Rail Authority, the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2004 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle and Wollongong, the ...
and
CountryLink CountryLink was a passenger rail and road service brand that operated in regional areas of New South Wales, and to and from Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. Originally created as a business unit (or sub-brand) of the State Rail Authority of Ne ...


February 1998 restructure

Another restructure in February 1998 saw the State Rail Authority split into four operating divisions: *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.


January 2004 restructure and wind down

In January 2004, after much criticism and public perceptions of blame shifting between units for operational failings,
RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia, established in 2004 pursuant to the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW, foll ...
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. By June 2006 much of the operational function had been transferred, with the State Rail Authority in the process of being wound down.


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 Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia, established in 2004 pursuant to the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW, foll ...


References


External links

{{Authority control Defunct railway companies of Australia
Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
Australian companies disestablished in 2003 Railway companies disestablished in 2003 Australian companies established in 1980 Railway companies established in 1980