CountryLink

CountryLink branded station sign

CountryLink was established in January 1989 under the Transport Administration Act 1988 as a business unit of what was then the State Rail Authority to operate all non-metropolitan long distance passenger services.[3][4] It inherited a fleet of XPT and locomotive-hauled passenger trains. 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. On purely economic grounds, the report recommended closing all country passenger services as they were judged unviable, however this was not politically acceptable.[5] If services were to be maintained, the report recommended an 'all XPT' option with an expanded network of coach services replacing many other services.

In November 1989, the Silver City Comet was withdrawn,[6] while in February 1990 the Brisbane Limited and Pacific Coast Motorail were withdrawn and replaced by XPT services, the Canberra XPT was withdrawn and replaced by locomotive-hauled stock and the Northern Tablelands Express was truncated to Tamworth with road coaches introduced from Sydney to Armidale.[7] The Intercapital Daylight ceased in August 1991[8] and the Sydney/Melbourne Express in November 1993 was replaced by an XPT in November 1993 following the delivery of additional stock.[9]

In a June 1990 policy reversal, the government announced that it would purchase 17 Xplorer carriages to reintroduce services to Armidale and Moree and replace locomotive-hauled stock and coaches on services to Canberra. This would release an XPT to operate a daily service to operate the Grafton Express replacing a weekly locomotive-hauled service that was reintroduced at the same time.[10] The Xplorers entered service on the North Western service in October 1993[11] and on the Canberra service in December 1993.[12] In November 1994 the government ordered a further four Xplorer carriages.[13]

In October 1990, the government announced that eight sleeper carriages would be ordered for use on overnight services to Brisbane, Murwillumbah and Melbourne.[14] These were included in an order placed with ABB, Dandenong in 1991 for four power cars and 13 trailers that was jointly funded by the New South Wales and Victorian Governments.[15][16]

In December 1994, a daylight service to Melbourne resumed by extending the Riverina XPT from Albury.[17]

In 1995, CountryLink trialled three Swedish Railways X2000 tilting train carriages. After conducting a statewide tour in March, they were used on Canberra services from April until June with two modified XPT power cars.[18]

In March 1996, services were reintroduced to Broken Hill and Griffith using refurbished locomotive-hauled rolling stock honouring an election commitment by the Carr State Government.[19] Following the electrification of the Illawarra line from Dapto to Kiama, CityRail was able to release one of its mechanically identical Endeavours and this was converted to an Xplorer to replace the locomotive-hauled stock.

With the formation of RailCorp, responsibility for CountryLink transferred to the new corporation in January 2004.[20][21] With the closure of the Muwillumbah branch, services were cut back to Casino from May 2004.[22][23]

CountryLink was merged with the intercity services of CityRail to form NSW TrainLink on 1 July 2013.

CountryLink rail network as of 2007

CountryLink operated its own rolling stock over track managed by RailCorp in Sydney and the Australian Rail Track Corporation and Rail Infrastructure Corporation outside of Sydney. The hub of its operation was Sydney Central railway station.

Southern

Makeham's Coaches BCI 6125 (ISM) coach departing Wagga Wagga station in April 2009

The Southern region covers the state's Illawarra, South Coast, Snowy Mountains, South West Slopes, Southern Tablelands, Riverina and Sunraysia regions plus the Australian Capital Territory and parts of Victoria. Accordingly, the Government of Victoria (though not the ACT Government) made a contribution to the provision of these services. Southern region services appeared on the network map in green. Services ran along the Main South line from Sydney Central station to Albury before continuing on the North East line to Southern Cross station in Melbourne, with the line to Canberra branching off south of Goulburn and the line to Griffith at Junee.[31]

Principal stations served by XPT trains were:

• Goulburn
• Cootamundra
• Wagga Wagga
• Albury
• Wangaratta
• Melbourne

Principal stations served by Xplorer trains were:

• Goulburn
• Queanbeyan
• Canberra
• Cootamundra
• Griffith

Cities and towns served by CountryLink coaches connecting off Southern services included: Wollongong, Bombala, Eden, Tumbarumba, Bathurst, Dubbo, Condobolin, Griffith, Mildura and Echuca.

The final CountryLink fleet consisted of two train types, XPT (19 power cars and 60 carriages) and Xplorers (23 carriages).[32] The XPT fleet was maintained at the purpose built XPT Service Centre. The Xplorer fleet was maintained at the Xplorer-Endeavour Service Centre.

Fleet (italics = in service today under TfNSW)

Class	Image	Top Speed (km/h)	In Service (under Countrylink)
XPT Diesel Multiple Units	An XPT in its original livery at Bathurst for a Dubbo service. XPT in the final CountryLink livery at Sydney Central	193	1989–present
Xplorer Diesel Multiple Units	Xplorer in the late livery crossing the Queanbeyan River railway bridge. Xplorer in original CountryLink livery at Sydney Central	145	1993–present
XP2000/2009 (Tilt Train mod)		193	April 1995 – June 1995
X2000 Tilt Train (non powered cars only)		n/a	April 1995 – June 1995
HUB coaches	RDH 2220, same location as below image	n/a	1989–1994 1996 – April 2000
RUB coaches	NDS 2268 at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot	n/a	1989–1994 1996 – April 2000
Stainless Steel coaches		n/a	1989–1993
73 Class Locomotive		64	1989–2013

The Public Transport Commission had first introduced coaches in September 1975 when six Dennings were introduced to replace all train services out of Dubbo. Coaches replaced many branch line rail services over the next few years and by 1987 the State Rail Authority had 36 Denning, Hino and Scania coaches operating throughout the state.[33]

CountryLink adopted the model used by V/Line in Victoria and contracted out the provision of these services to private operators, with services transferring to the successful bidders between November 1989 and June 1990.[34]

Coaches were originally painted in CountryLink's grey, white and blue livery. Following the transfer of the administration of coach services to the Department of Transport in July 1992, operators were not required to repaint coaches dedicated to CountryLink duties, thus most operated in the livery of their owners.[35] This policy was later reversed and coaches once again were painted in CountryLink livery.

The full list of coach operators providing services at the time CountryLink ceased in June 2013 were:

In May 2012, the newly elected O'Farrell State Government announced RailCorp would be restructured, with CountryLink and the regional services of CityRail incorporated into NSW TrainLink in July 2013.[41]

CountryLink published an in-house journal, Freight Rail & Countrylink Xpress, in conjunction with Freight Rail.[42]

• CountryLink network map