Originally. the New South Wales Government Railways – NSWGR (and it’s successor, the State Rail Authority) was an all encompassing government organization that controlled everything from the track the trains ran on, right up to the trains themselves, and the crew in those trains. They were responsible for suburban passengers, right through to the named interstate trains like “The Southern Aurora”. Freight could be a pickup goods, shunting all yards on the line, or a fast interstate container service. The beginning of the end started in 1989.
State Rail Authority of New South Wales
In 1989, the State Rail Authority (SRA) was restructured into three smaller business units, able to operate autonomously under the main SRA name. The suburban (bounded by Emu Plains, Richmond, Cowan*, Bondi Junction, Otford* and Macarthur) and interurban passenger trains (bounded by Lithgow, Scone, Dungog, Nowra and Goulburn) became Cityrail (which modified the “L7″ logo from the then red/yellow into a black/yellow, later to become the blue/yellow in use today). Country and Interstate trains, including the XPT services and loco hauled passenger trains (at that time, unheard of save for a couple of exceptions) became Countrylink, which came with a new blue/white colour scheme and a new “mountains” logo. Freight transport came under the name FreightRail (later Freightcorp) with the standardized livery of all over blue with yellow edging and large white numbers.
Cityrail (Regional) – Coming Soon!
Countrylink (Intercity) – Coming Soon!
Countrylink (Country) – Coming Soon!
