Western railway line, Queensland

The Western railway line is a narrow gauge (1.067 m or 3 ft 6 in) railway, connecting the south-east and south-west regions of Queensland, Australia. It commences at Toowoomba, at the end of the Main Line railway from Brisbane, and extends west 810 km to Cunnamulla, passing through the major towns of Dalby, Roma and Charleville, although services on the 184 km section from Westgate to Cunnamulla have been suspended since 2011. Queensland was the first railway operator in the world to adopt narrow gauge for a main line, and this remains the system wide gauge.

The initial section of the Western Line was built from Toowoomba to Dalby, opening 16 April 1868 (the first section of the Southern line, from Gowrie Junction, about 12 km west of Toowoomba, to Warwick, was opened in 1871, and bypassed in 1915). The line traverses relatively flat, easy country, gradually descending from 590m asl to 343m asl at Dalby.

From Dalby the line was extended to Roma from 1877, opening on 16 September 1880, then to Charleville from 1883, opening 1 March 1888. The line was then extended in a southerly direction, following the Warrego River to Cunnamulla, opening on 10 October 1898. The country is undulating but mostly level, with Roma being 302m asl, Charleville 300m asl, and Cunnamulla 192m asl.

No significant earthworks were required for the construction of the line west of Dalby, and the rate of construction for all further sections was largely dictated by the annual funding allocations made by the Queensland government of the day.

The line was built to provide reliable transportation to facilitate the development and settlement of the southern Queensland interior by European settlers. It fulfilled that role until the adjacent road network was gradually upgraded to all-weather status from the 1960s-1990s, during which time the line gradually lost most traffic. Despite that, there remains a twice weekly passenger service as far as Charleville, and seasonal cattle trains from Quilpie. Following the 2010-11 Queensland floods, freight services were suspended between Westgate and Cunnamulla, and have not resumed. In September 2014, a truck carrying ammonium nitrate exploded near Wyandra, damaging the nearby railway bridge, which has not been repaired, effectively closing the line.

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Wikipedia