How Are Railroads, Engineering and Australia Tied Together?

Sometimes people forget that Australia isn't only a country, but it's on its own continent and that by itself is pretty interesting. The entire country covers an area that spans just under 3 million square miles with over 23 million residents! Given its size and population, you can bet the transportation system is complex and intricate because there's so much land to cover and so many people who need to use it. While there is hundreds of thousands of miles of paved and unpaved roadways, Australia has over 25,000 miles of railway track throughout the country. And with a massive amount of land on the continent, the Australian rail network has plenty of room for expansion.

Increased Usage

Rail networks all over the world are experiencing a big rise in ridership and usage, which goes the same for Australia. Whether it's taking the local subway around town or jumping on a regional train line to ride hundreds, if not thousands of miles, across the country, the people of Australia are taking advantage of this efficient transportation method. And according to a recent article in The Sydney Moring Herald, the city of Zetland (just a few miles south of Sydney), is experiencing such a high demand for rail transportation that the local government and state officials are hitting max ridership capacity and must grow the rail network in that area. But this is just one of many examples where Australians are packing onto trains!

How Can They Improve The Rail Network?

While state officials wish they could just snap their fingers and instantly improve the transportation system, they cannot; which means they must find a suitable strategy to fulfill the needs of their citizens. This is where they meet with engineers and outside firms who can deliver rail infrastructure solutions that'll accommodate the needs of their train network. Whether that consists of laying down new tracks or producing additional passenger trains or a combination or both, the upgrades could meet the rising passenger demands.

When it comes to choosing the right company to deliver on the transportation services, local and government officials should select the ones with previous experience and a proven track record of successful projects. This can be very beneficial in terms of a timely completion because the demand of ridership will only increase as time progresses.

To immediately alleviate some of the current strains on the rail network, the governing officials should first increase the number of passenger trains on all lines to increase the capacity and to shorten ride times. With more trains transporting passengers on current routes, it'll create the needed buffer time to implement new routes and tracks for the country. Since there is a surplus of area where tracks can be installed, the track implementation will probably be the most time consuming improvement initiative. However, the rail infrastructure project will benefit the country now and in the future!