Railway Digest Magazine March 2025 Back Issue

Moree – an important north west NSW rail centre
Located in north west New South Wales, Moree lies on black soil plains and above part of the Great Artesian Basin – attributes which make it the centre of one of the most important agricultural areas in the state with grain and cotton production dominating the economy and sheep, cattle, oil seeds, olives and pecan nuts making important contributions. John Hoyle takes a detailed look at the infrastructure and operations of this important regional rail centre.

Melbourne's Metro Tunnel
First proposed in March 2008 as part of an East West Link Needs Assessment Study, Melbourne's “Metro Tunnel” comprises two bi-directional (roughly) parallel rail tunnels provided for suburban trains, passing beneath Melbourne’s CBD on a completely new alignment, and incorporating five new stations. When it opens later this year, it will have cost somewhere approaching $15 billion but will enable the operational separation of various existing lines on Melbourne's rail network and increase the capacity of the system to metro-style frequencies. David Campbell closely examines both the history of this project and the background issues concerning Melbourne and its suburban rail system that led to the decision to build the “Metro Tunnel”.

A Gladstone Snapshot
A visit to the central Queensland industrial port city of Gladstone may not be on everyone’s must-do list. The Bruce Highway gives the city a wide berth and many motorists would generally be on their way to somewhere else up or down the east coast, unable to afford the time needed to take the small deviation to discover Gladstone’s virtues. Known for its copious quantities of wealth-generating heavy industry, the city and its surrounding regions do have plenty to offer railfans, as Alan Graham explains.