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CountryLink was an Australian passenger rail and road operator operating in regional New South Wales, as well as to Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne.〔(CountryLink train and coach network ) CountryLink〕 It was owned by RailCorp, a Government of New South Wales entity.〔(Rail Corporation of New South Wales ) NSW Government State Records〕 CountryLink operated rail services using XPT and Xplorer rolling stock, with connecting coach services operated under contract by private operators. ==History== 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.〔(Transport Administration Act 1988 ) Government of New South Wales〕〔(CityRail ) State Records NSW Government〕 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.〔"CountryLink 2000" ''Railway Digest'' August 1989〕 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 In November 1989, the ''Silver City Comet'' was withdrawn,〔"The Official Last Comet" ''Railway Digest'' February 1990〕 while in February 1990 the ''Brisbane Limited'' and ''Pacific Coast Motorail'' were withdrawn and replaced by XPT services, the ''Canberra XPT'' was withdrawn and replaced by locomotive-hauled stock and the ''Northern Tablelands Express'' was truncated to Tamworth with road coaches introduced from Sydney to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.〔"The New Timetable" ''Railway Digest'' March 1990〕 The ''Intercapital Daylight'' ceased in August 1991〔"Intercapital Daylight scrapped" ''Railway Digest'' September 1991〕 and the ''Sydney/Melbourne Express'' in November 1993 was replaced by an XPT in November 1993 following the delivery of additional stock.〔"Major Passenger Train Changes Commence this Month" ''Railway Digest'' November 1993〕 In policy reversal, in June 1990 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.〔New "Explorer" trains for NSW ''Railway Digest'' July 1990〕 The Xplorers entered service on the North Western service in October 1993〔"Xplorer Enters Service" ''Railway Digest'' November 1993〕 and on the Canberra service in December 1993.〔"No Big Bang for Canberra Xplorers" ''Railway Digest'' December 1993〕 In November 1994 the government ordered a further four Xplorer carriages.〔''More Xplorer & Endeavour Cars Ordered" ''Railway Digest'' December 1994〕 In October 1990, the government announced that eight sleeper carriages would be ordered for use on overnight services to Brisbane, Murwillumbah and Melbourne.〔"XPT sleepers for North Coast trains" ''Railway Digest'' November 1990〕 These were included in an order placed with ABB Transportation, Dandenong in 1991 for four power cars and 13 trailers that was jointly funded by the New South Wales and Victorian Governments.〔"NSW/Vic to share XPTs" ''Railway Digest'' January 1991〕〔"XPT trailer cars to be built in Victoria" ''Railway Digest'' August 1991〕 In December 1994, a daylight service to Melbourne resumed by extending the ''Riverina XPT'' from Albury.〔"Sydney-Melbourne Daylight XPT Commences This Month" ''Railway Digest'' December 1994〕 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.〔"So why do you call it a tilt train?" ''Railway Digest'' July 1995〕 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.〔"First Broken Hill Passenger Blocked by Freight Derailment" ''Railway Digest'' May 1996〕 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.〔(Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Agencies) Bill ) NSW Parliament Hansard 2 December 2003〕 With the closure of the Muwillumbah branch, services were cut back to Casino from April 2004.〔(Closure of the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service ) NSW Parliament 24 November 2004〕 Countrylink was merged with the regional services of Cityrail to form NSW Trainlink on 1 July 2013. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「CountryLink」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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