The regional economic impacts of the railway gauge muddle in Australia

Nicholas Sheard

Regional Studies, 2024, vol. 58, issue 4, 860-875

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 increasing by around 50% within a decade of them opening. However, these effects were unwound within two decades of a break-of-gauge being closed. There is little evidence of gauge segmentation causing different paces of regional development. The gauge muddle also appears to have limited the extent of the railway network.

Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:regstd:v:58:y:2024:i:4:p:860-875

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DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2222134

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