Back on Track
Back on Track

Author: Philip G. Laird

Publisher: UNSW Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780868404110

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Australia's freight transport system now has the highest proportion of truck use of any developed country in the world, and with New Zealand, its cities are heavily dependent on cars. Back on Track considers the historic, economic and political issues that have led to this situation, and concludes that the emergence of such a strongly road-oriented system has not been in the national interest, on both economic and environmental grounds. It develops a detailed analysis of Australia's 'road transport deficit'. The authors suggest that rail is the neglected element in Australian and New Zealand transport systems and despite a history of 'policy paralysis', they offer a rail-based ten point plan that could see both countries' transport systems 'back on track'. Using new data on transportation trends from Australia and around the world, the book sets out a vision for the future of freight and inter-capital transport in Australia and New Zealand, and offers innovative transport strategies for each of the major cities in both countries.

Tracks Across Continents, Paths Through History
Tracks Across Continents, Paths Through History

Author: Douglas J. Puffert

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-04

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0226685098

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A standard track gauge—the distance between the two rails—enables connecting railway lines to exchange traffic. But despite the benefits of standardization, early North American railways used six different gauges extensively, and even today breaks of gauge at national borders and within such countries as India and Australia are expensive burdens on commerce. In Tracks across Continents, Paths through History, Douglas J. Puffert offers a global history of railway track gauge, examining early choices and the dynamic process of diversity and standardization that resulted. Drawing on the economic theory of path dependence, and grounded in economic, technical, and institutional realities, this innovative volume traces how early historical events, and even idiosyncratic personalities, have affected choices of gauge ever since, despite changing technology and understandings of what gauge is optimal. Puffert also uses this history to develop new insights in the theory of path dependence. Tracks across Continents, Paths through History will be essential reading for anyone interested in how history and economics inform each other.

The Ghan
The Ghan

Author: Basil Fuller

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781741108064

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To write the history of the Ghan, Basil Fuller made the journey Port Augusta to the Alice, speaking with old-timers who remember those epic days.

Rails Across Australia
Rails Across Australia

Author: David Cable

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2015-10-31

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1473844363

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Rails Across Australia is an album of photographs taken by David Cable, a well regarded British author os several picture albums of train pictures throughout the world. The photos were taken initially during the period 1967-1973 when David lived in Adelaide, and then during several visits around the Commonwealth during the 21st Century. The photos cover a wide variety of trains in the mainland states from Queensland to the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and include pictures showing trains in the landscapes as well as close up photos of different gauges originally established in a various states are illustrated by the individual classes designed for them, in addition to the newest designs for the standard gauge tracks now linking them.