Queensland Rail
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Image:QR-sign-at-Central-Station-Wickham-Terrace.jpg
Image:QR logo.jpg QR, previously known as Queensland Rail and Queensland Railways, is the corporation responsible for the operation and maintenance of the railway system in the State of Queensland, Australia. It is a State-owned corporation responsible to the Queensland Minister for Transport. It maintains the physical infrastructure of the railway network and also directly operates all commuter (CityTrain) and long-distance (TravelTrain) passenger services and the vast majority of freight rail services. The TravelTrain Service includes trains such as the Tilt Train, Sunlander, Queenslander, and others.
QR is the largest narrow gauge railway system in the world, operating on tracks with a 1067mm (3'6") width between the rails. Queensland was also home to the first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world, when the first track opened to traffic in 1865 between Ipswich and the small town of Grandchester 25km to the west - this stretch now forms part of the main line from Brisbane to the western interior.
Unlike the freight railway systems in all other Australian States, QR remains in full State ownership and private sector involvement in the operation of train services remains minimal. Pacific National is the only private operator to run on QR rails, hauling container traffic between Brisbane and Cairns.
QR now boasts a route network of over 9,000km of which some 1,000km are electrified at 25kVAC. This is largest electrified network in the southern hemisphere. The "backbone" of the QR network - the North Coast Railway from Brisbane north to Cairns - is electrified as far north as Rockhampton, approximately 600km (375 miles) north of Brisbane. Most of the lines used to transport coal from interior mines to coastal ports are also electrified. Many coal trains in Queensland are hauled by multiple locomotives, with remotely controlled locomotives in the middle. These trains are some of the heaviest in the world and can reach over four kilometers in length.
Queensland's railways are some of the safest railways in the world, and high quality track and rollingstock maintenance attribute to a very low number of accidents, the most recent passenger accident being in November 2004, involving the coastal tilt train from Brisbane to Cairns. Though the train derailed at over 120 km/h, (while travelling on a 60km/h stretch) there were no fatalities and the carriages did not roll or break up, attesting to their strength.