Australia & New Zealand

 

Both Australia and New Zealand have fairly limited railway networks. Today, most people travel by air or road in Australia and New Zealand.

 

In Australia, each state prefer to set their own standard when building railways. The result was a mix of different gauges. New South Wales adopted the standard gauge of 1435 mm, Victoria and South Australia built with the broad Irish gauge of 1600 mm, and Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia and parts of South Australia used the narrow 1067 mm gauge. In 1917, a person travelling from Perth to Brisbane had to change trains six times.

 

Despite the limited passenger railway network, a few famous tracks exists.

 

Here you can read about the Indian Pacific, the train between Sydney and Perth

 

Here you can read about the Ghan, the classic train journey between Adelaide and Alice Springs, which has been extended to Darwin

 

Here you can read about the Tranz Alpine Express, the train between Christchurch and Greymouth

 

 

Additionally, steam locomotives are available for tourists on scenic routes in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand.