Chris's Commonwealth Railways Information (ComRails)Comrails Logo

This site is where you will find various bits of information about the Commonwealth Railways, Australian National Railways, Great Southern Railways and the South Australian Railways.


The Commonwealth Railways was formed in 1912 to build and operate a new line being contructed between Port Augusta in South Australia and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. On 4th April 1975 the Commonwealth Government announced that South Australian and Tasmanian had agreed to take up an offer to sell their railways to the Commonwealth Government. This result in the railways being amalgamated to form the Australian National Railways (A.N.R.). As of that date the Commonwealth Railways ceased to exist and all assets were passed to the new body. The other systems officially transferred assets as of 1st July 1975.

On 28th August 1997, the freight business was sold to a private consortium, becoming the Australia Southern Railroad. The passenger operation was also sold, becoming the Great Southern Railway. Both consortiums took over operations from November 1997.

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