Railways and Tramways of Australia
29 August
The inaugural Sydney–Canberra XPT being launched at Sydney Terminal Station, 29 August 1983. Photo: NSW State Archives, NRS-22489-1-12-CN006582.
Express to the capital
The Canberra XPT was introduced to service on 29 August 1983.
The XPT (eXpress Passenger Train) brought a new standard of passenger rail travel to New South Wales train services. Built by Comeng in Sydney, it was based on the British High Speed Train (HST). XPT train sets typically consist of a power car at each end, and from four to seven passenger carriages.
Initially unveiled in 1981, the first XPT entered regular service between Sydney and Orange (later Dubbo) in 1982. As more train sets became available, it was rolled out to other routes, with an XPT to Kempsey commencing in May 1982 and to Albury in August 1982.
The inaugural Canberra XPT service departed from Platform 10 at Sydney Terminal. It was farewelled by Minister for Transport Peter Cox and Chief Executive of the State Rail Authority David Hill. Power car XP2008 led the train and XP2004 was on the rear. The inaugural XPT service from Canberra to Sydney ran the following morning. Upon introduction, the XPT cut 32 minutes from the timetable from Sydney to Canberra and 40 minutes from Canberra to Sydney. It operated one service each day from Sundays to Fridays. Other trains also continued to operate to Canberra.
More XPTs were rolled out, with new services introduced to Armidale in April 1984 and Grafton in October 1985. In a major reorganisation of regional train services, the XPT was withdrawn from the Canberra route in February 1990 and began operating to Tamworth, Brisbane and Murwillumbah.
It had been planned that the last Canberra XPT would depart from Sydney on 10 February 1990, but it was replaced by a locomotive-hauled train. Locomotive-hauled trains were then replaced by the Xplorer in 1993, which continues to operate on the Sydney–Canberra route.
Bibliography
‘30 years ago, enter the XPT in 1982’, The Railway News, vol. 58, no. 3, June 2012, pp 52–3.
P Neve, ‘Named trains of the NSW Railways’, The Railway News, vol. 39, no. 1, February 1987, pp 44–7.
‘New South Wales’, Here and There, Supplement to Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, October 1983, pp 105–6.
G Parkinson, ‘The last Canberra XPT’, Railway Digest, vol. 28, no. 4, April 1990, pp 135–6.
The inaugural Canberra–Sydney XPT breaks through a banner as it departs from Canberra, 30 August 1983. Photo: NSW State Archives, NRS-22489-1-12-CN006582.
