Rail transport in New South Wales

The Australian state of New South Wales has an extensive network of railways, which were integral to the growth and development of the state. The vast majority of railway lines were government built and operated, but there were also several private railways, some of which operate to this day.

During the 20th century the railways have always been run by a state-owned entity, which has undergone a number of different minor name changes, including the Department of Railways, New South Wales Railways and New South Wales Government Railways.

It also ran freight services until 2001, when this business was taken over by Pacific National.

Three government entities currently have responsibility for the New South Wales railways. They are:

Since 2003, the NSW interstate, Sydney metropolitan freight, Hunter Valley coal, and country branch line networks have been run by private operators. Until January 2012, these networks were all operated by the Australian Rail Track Corporation, however control of the Country Regional (branch line) Network moved to John Holland Group in January 2012

New South Wales' railways date from 10 December 1831 when the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway, located at the intersection of Brown & Church Streets, Newcastle, New South Wales. Privately owned and operated to service the A Pit coal mine, it was a cast-iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway.

Many proposals for routing the proposed lines were put forth, researched, surveyed and reported on. Three main routes for the Main South Line were reported on by Mr. Woore. There was three main routes researched for crossing the Blue Mountains requiring much effort just for the surveys.

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