The Railway Gauge Muddle in Australia

Nicholas Sheard

Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre Working Papers from Victoria University, Centre of Policy Studies/IMPACT Centre

Abstract: The mainline railways in Australia were initially built in three different gauges, with 'breaks-of-gauge' where passengers and goods transferred between them. This paper studies how the gauge situation affected regional development and the railway network in the 20th century. Regional breaks-of-gauge caused substantial local growth, with population and employment levels increasing by around 50% within a decade relative to otherwise similar places. However, these effects were unwound within two decades of the break-of-gauge being closed. There is little evidence for the gauge-segmented railway network causing different paces of regional development. The gauge muddle also appears to have led to a more limited railway network than if a uniform gauge had been used from the beginning.

Keywords: Agglomeration; Rail transport; Railway gauge; Trade frictions; Transport infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H54 L92 N77 N97 R42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his, nep-tre and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-327

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