Melbourne - Sydney XPT Express leaving Southern Cross Station, Melbourne
The Melbourne - Sydney XPT Express Train operates a twice daily service between the cities, one during the day and the other overnight. The service offers onboard buffet meals and first and economy class seats with first class bunk sleeping births on the overnight runs. The train operates between the Melbourne terminal of Southern Cross Station, and Central Station, Sydney, with a running time of 10 hours 40 minutes.
Albury railway station
The train stops at numerous cities and towns along the way. At Albury, on the border of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, it pulls up long enough for a crew change at Albury, on the New South Wales - Victorian border, alongside the longest railway platform in the southern hemisphere. It was here, in the days when the standard gauge railway from Sydney stopped at Albury, that passengers had to alight their train, then cross over to the other side of the platform and board another train of a different gauge to complete their journey.
The Melbourne - Sydney XPT Express Train is today Australia's busiest interstate passenger train service, and is the latest in a tradition of high speed trains that have serviced this route, commencing with steam-hauled The Sprit of Progress in 1937. The New South Wales XPT is a class of diesel-powered passenger trains that were built by Comeng and ABB Transportation. Based on the British Rail designed Intercity 125 High Speed Train, each XPT set is made up of two XP locomotives in a push-pull formation coupled to between four and seven carriages.
The first sets entered service under the State Rail Authority in 1982 and now operate under NSW TrainLink, running on long-distance regional and interstate North Coast, Main Western and Main Southern lines throughout New South Wales and interstate into Victoria and Queensland. In October 2016, the NSW government announced the XPTs would be replaced as part of the NSW TrainLink Regional Train Project. A contract with Spanish manufacturer, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) was signed February in 2019, with the XPTs to be replaced with bi-mode Civity trains in 2023.
Melbourne - Sydney XPT Express
Trains in the XPT fleet are currently used on five routes from Sydney:
Melbourne (1 overnight train in each direction with 1 sleeping car attached, 1 daylight train in each direction - travel time 10 hours 40 minutes)
Brisbane (Daily overnight service from Sydney to Brisbane with sleeping car attached, daily daylight train from Brisbane - travel time 14 hours)
Dubbo (Once daily each way - daylight service, morning departure from Sydney, 2:10pm departure from Dubbo - travel time 6 hours)
Grafton (Once daily each way - daylight service, designed to service the north coast conveniently including Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour - travel time 10 hours)
Casino (Daily overnight service from Casino to Sydney with sleeping car attached, daily daylight train from Sydney to Casino - travel time ~11 hours - coach connections to Brisbane and the Gold Coast)
Streamlined, oil-fired locomotive 'Edward Henty'
The Spirit of Progress was the premier express train passenger service on the Victorian Railways during the mid 19th century, running from Melbourne to the New South Wales border at Albury, and later through to Sydney. From its introduction in November 1937 until April 1962 the train service ran on 5 ft 3 in (1600 mm) broad gauge line from Melbourne's Spencer Street Station to Albury, on the New South Wales - Victorian border, where passengers changed to a New South Wales Government Railways train (the Melbourne Limited Express), running on 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge track to complete the journey to Sydney. This craziness of having to change trains at Albury had gone on since the railway networks were first laid out. One irate passenger, a certain Mark Twain, commented: "Just imagine the paralysis of the intellect that gave birth to that idea." Following the completion of the standard gauge line between Melbourne and Albury in April 1962 the journey was extended to Sydney and a new service - The Southern Aurora, was introduced.
The Spirit of Progress ushered in a standard of passenger train speed and comfort not previously seen in Australia. Its introduction in November 1937 marked the culmination of many years of preparatory work by Victorian Railways, from the laying of heavier rail on the North East line, introduction of Automatic Staff Exchange apparatus to allow continuous high speed running between track sections, introduction of high-powered three-cylinder Pacific locomotives, and the testing of air conditioning equipment on passenger rolling stock. Such was the commitment of VR Chief Commissioner Harold W Clapp to introducing a world-class train service to Victorian Railways, virtually no detail was overlooked.
When introduced, the train featured many innovations new to Australian railway practice, such as streamlining, full air-conditioning, and all-steel carriage construction. Its overall exterior and interior design reflected the latest Art Deco style, and interior fittings used materials such as stainless steel and native Australian blackwood veneers. The luxurious new train also featured a dining car with a modern galley kitchen modelled after the most up-to-date hospital kitchens of the period and, at the rear, a round-ended parlour/observation car offering panoramic views of the Victorian countryside as it disappeared into the distance.
Victorian Railways' three-cylinder S class 4-6-2 steam locomotives were assigned to haul the train, which typically had an eleven-car trailing load of 544 long tons. Although these locomotives had been in service since 1928, their appearance was dramatically altered with the addition of streamlining and royal blue and gold livery designed to seamlessly match the train carriages. The locomotives were also equipped with long range tenders with enough water and coal capacity to enable the train to travel the entire 306.6 km journey between Albury and Melbourne non-stop at an average speed of 84 km/h, a schedule that was the longest non-stop train journey in Australia and held the record for the next twenty years as the fastest. Until the conversion of the S class locomotives to oil firing (which commenced from February 1951) the locomotive fireman was charged with the formidable task of shovelling six to seven tons of coal into the firebox during the course of each journey in order to generate enough power to maintain the schedule.
After a year in service, the train was credited with having increased patronage to 209,000 passengers, an increase of 28,000 or 15% over the number carried by the Sydney Limited in its last year of operation. By 22 November 1939, annual patronage had increased again to 222,371. From 1952 B class diesel locomotives commenced and the new locomotives quickly proved their superiority to steam traction in availability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of operation. The B class locomotives replaced the S class locomotives on the Spirit of Progress roster from April 1954. None of the iconic streamlined steam locomotives were saved for preservation, all were withdrawn and scrapped by September 1954. From 1956, a new daylight connecting service between Melbourne and Sydney, the Intercapital Daylight, was introduced. The Parlor Car was removed from the Spirit and transferred to the new day train.
On 12th April 1962, after the unification of the rail gauge between Melbourne and Sydney, a new super train called the Southern Aurora made the inaugural run between Australia's two largest cities. It was in a time when travelling between the twin cities was full of glamour and romance.
A new railway track, built to the NSW rail gauge, was constructed on the Victorian side of the border at a cost of £10.7 million. Just one week after the last spikes were driven into place the new train service was launched. The invited VIPs that appeared at Sydney Central railway station that night included the Governor-General, Viscount De L'Isle, Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the two state premiers along with a retinue of railway officials boarded the train.
The express train was designed as first class throughout with sleeping accommodation for all, and it was promoted as 'the finest train trip in the world'. For perhaps the first and only time, Australian rail travel was as good as Europe or America. The comfort level was said to be the equivalent to that of a first class hotel, 1960s style. The gleaming, American-designed, Australian-built stainless steel cars, with distinctive fluting, had air conditioning and fibreglass insulation to dampen the sound of motion. Every night the Southern Aurora left Sydney at 8pm and passengers could dine a la carte in the dining room before retiring to the lounge bar for a drink, play cards, write letters or even engage in a sing-a-long.
As passengers dined, the stewards entered their cabins and converted seating into comfortable beds. Those in twinette cabins had their own bathrooms and enjoyed a hot shower, not a bad feature for a train. Those in bed could be served a cup of tea and Arnott's biscuits. The gentle swaying and motion of the train lulled passengers to sleep. They could be awakened by the stewards, one for each car, bringing in a continental breakfast. The more active could make their way to the lounge car and have breakfast watching the Victorian countryside flash by. The Southern Aurora would arrive - usually on time - some 13 hours later at No. 1 platform at Melbourne's Spencer Street Station.
Budget mass transport by coach, then the deregulation of the aviation industry, meant the idea of first class overnight rail travel struggled to survive. The Southern Aurora was replaced by the XPT in 1983.
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