Railway Digest Magazine May 2021 Back Issue

TasRail 2021 – Part two
Part one of Melanie Dennis’ article, in our April issue, covered the formation and structure of TasRail as an entity, the current rail network and infrastructure around the state as well as appraising the current performance of Tasrail as a business in the field of transport and logistics. This section looks closer at the motive power and rolling stock, operational control, TasRail as an employer and Corporate Citizen and state government oversight of the company's performance. There is also a brief summation of the state of rail preservation in Tasmania and its interaction with TasRail.

NSW Regional Infrastructure update
Away from the glare of metropolitan media and the majority of voters there is a steady flow of relatively small rail infrastructure improvements in regional NSW that, despite their modest cost compared with capital city multi-billion dollar projects, are contributing to improvements in freight train workings. Most of these projects have been funded under the NSW Government’s ongoing Fixing Country Rail program which provides funding for infrastructure improvements assessed by Transport for NSW to promote more efficient train working, allow the running of longer, heavier trains and reduced operational costs. John Hoyle takes a close look at several of these useful projects.

The chase to Quambatook
On the weekend of Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 March, the 700 Operations group ran a trip on the broad gauge lines from Melbourne to Quambatook, in Victoria’s Mallee country, hauled by Clyde/EMD streamliners A66 and S306. To Jonathan Green, the opportunity to photograph two veteran locomotives on lines rarely visited by passenger trains was too good to miss!