The New South Wales XPT (short for eXpress Passenger Train) is a class of diesel-powered passenger trains built by Comeng and ABB. Based on the British Rail designed High Speed Train, each XPT set comprises two XP power cars in a push-pull configuration and, between them, between four and seven passenger carriages. The first sets entered service under the State Rail Authority in 1982 and now operate under NSW TrainLink, running on long-distance regional and interstate North Coast, Main Western and Main Southern lines throughout New South Wales and interstate into Victoria and Queensland.
History
Development
Improving public transport was a major issue in the 1976 New South Wales state election. One of the commitments of the incoming Wran government was to buy new rolling stock for country rail services.
In January 1978, the Public Transport Commission invited tenders for 25 high-speed railcars similar to Western Australia's Prospector railcars delivered by Comeng in 1971. The tender allowed bidders to suggest alternative types of high-speed train. Comeng submitted a tender for a train based on the British Rail designed High Speed Train, which had entered service in the United Kingdom in 1976. In August 1979, Comeng was announced as the successful bidder and although the tender had called for 100 vehicles, by the time the contract was signed in March 1980, the order was only for 30: 10 power cars and 20 carriages, enough to form four five-carriage trains with two spare power cars.
The High Speed Train design was significantly modified, with the power cars being shorter, the Paxman Valenta engine downrated from , gearing lowered for a top operating speed of , suspension modified to operate on inferior track, and air filters and a cooling system modified to cater for hotter, dustier Australian conditions. The passenger cars, built to a loading gauge bigger than that of railways in Britain, were based on a Budd design. The XPT is theoretically capable of reaching speeds of .
In service
The first power car and trailer commenced testing with a stainless steel luggage van in August 1981. The initial XPT livery was red, black and orange with InterCity XPT signwriting on the power cars. On a demonstration run to Albury on 6 September 1981 the XPT set a new Australian rail speed record of 183 km/h between Table Top and Gerogery in southern NSW, breaking that set by the Western Australian Government Railways' Prospector railcar in 1971. On a test run to Albury on 18 September 1992 the XPT reached 193 km/h between Table Top and Yerong Creek. This record was broken by Queensland Rail's Electric Tilt Train in May 1999.
The first full test XPT set ran in January 1982. The four sets entered service on the Central West XPT to Dubbo in April 1982, the Mid North Coast XPT to Kempsey in May 1982 and the Riverina XPT to Albury in August 1982.
In 1983, a further five power cars and 15 trailers were ordered. These allowed the Canberra XPT to commence in August 1983 followed by the Northern Tablelands XPT to Glen Innes and Tenterfield (2 times per week only) in June 1984. The XPT cut 50 minutes off the trip between Sydney and Canberra. By tightening up the diagrams, an overnight South XPT to Albury was introduced, but cancelled in June 1985 due to low patronage. In 1985 an additional 12 trailer carriages were ordered to allow six sets of 7 carriages to be formed. From October 1985, the Mid North Coast XPT to Kempsey ceased, being replaced by the Holiday Coast XPT to Grafton. The Northern Tablelands XPT also was cut back to Armidale and only ran on alternate days with a HUB/RUB set operating on the other days.
Initially the XPT carried a fare surcharge compared to parallel locomotive hauled services; however this was abolished from May 1985.
It was proposed to extend operations to Melbourne with costs to be shared with V/Line. A five-carriage promotional train ran to Melbourne on Sunday 17 February 1985, running four free return shuttles to Tullamarine Loop. Crew training commenced on the North East line between Albury and Benalla in July 1985 with services scheduled to commence on 3 August, however agreement could not be reached with the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees over crewing and the plan was shelved. Another promotional train ran to Melbourne in November 1990.
