Australia’s inland rail: a long-held dream, but for whom and at what cost?

The current route for Australia’s inland rail promises an express service to deliver freight from somewhere outside Melbourne to somewhere outside Brisbane in less than 24 hours. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The inland rail is a political dream that winds back into pre-federation days. The first version was laid out by Henry Parkes in his Tenterfield address of 1889, as he made the case for a national government.

Such a move would also need a national army and a “nationwide uniform gauge railway line”. Parkes wanted to connect South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland by rail, “an immense advantage in the movement of troops”.