Victorian Railways
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The Victorian Railways operated railways in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations.
The Victorian Railways grew to service all parts of the state, even extending some lines into New South Wales and South Australia. In the late 19th Century the railways became something of a political football with politicians demanding new lines to be built in places where traffic levels never justified it. The result was that by the beginning of the 20th Century, no Victorian (apart from those in the mountain regions) were more than 25 miles (42km) from a railway line.
In 1974 the Victorian Railways was rebranded as VicRail. In 1983 VicRail was reconstituted as the State Transport Authority. V/Line became the operator of the regional network and The Met became the operator of Melbourne suburban services. Between 1996 and 1999 V/Line and The Met were privatised. The former V/Line freight is now owned by Pacific National. V/Line's former interstate rail freight infrastructure is controlled by the Australian Rail Track Corporation. Connex Melbourne now operates the suburban railway network in Melbourne. On the other hand, the National Express Group gave up its V/Line Passenger franchise in 2002, but the latter is slated to be re-privatised after the Regional Fast Rail project has been completed in 2006.
