Sydney–Melbourne rail corridor
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The Sydney–Melbourne rail corridor is an approximately 960-kilometre (600 mi) standard gauge railway corridor that runs between Melbourne and Sydney, the two largest cities in Australia. Freight and passenger services operate along the route, such as the NSW TrainLink XPT passenger service. The XPT offers a day or night service in each direction.
The railway corridor consists of NSW's Main Southern railway line from Sydney's Central Station to Albury Station – 646 kilometres (401 mi) – together with Victoria's North East railway line – 316 kilometres (196 mi) – from Albury Station to Melbourne's Southern Cross station (via Tottenham).
In 1883, the Victorian Railways broad gauge line met the New South Wales Government Railways standard gauge line at Albury, New South Wales at a break-of-gauge. The two tracks were separated by a long island platform.
It was not until 1962, with the opening of the North East standard gauge line in Victoria, that through services were possible between Melbourne and Sydney.
The corridor was once home to intercapital passenger services such as the Spirit of Progress, Southern Aurora, and Intercapital Daylight.
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