Skitube Alpine Railway

The Skitube Alpine Railway is a standard gauge track electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley.

History
In the 1980s development of the Thredbo and Perisher Valley skifields was increasing, but the mountain road providing access to them was limited, and road and car parking expansion works were financially and environmentally unacceptable. In 1980 the National Parks and Wildlife Service proposed the establishment of a day visitors resort at Blue Cow Mountain, which increased the traffic demands. A number of transport modes were examined, including a funicular railway, chairlift, and an aerial gondola, but all were of limited capacity, affected by weather, and would scar the mountainsides.

A rack and pinion railway was found to be the best option, running mostly underground. The Perisher Skitube Joint Venture was established, with Transfield and Kumagai NSW (a division of Japanese firm Kumagai Gumi) holding a 49 percent share each. The main proponent of the scheme, Canberra engineer Ken Bilston, held a 2 percent share and was technical manager for the project. Feasibility studies commenced in 1982 for a double track railway on the assumption that the road would close in winter, but this was altered to a single track line with passing loops when the closure was ruled out.

Construction commenced in October 1984, with tunnelling beginning in June 1985. A consortium of Swiss and Australian companies provided the rolling stock, overhead wiring, sub-stations, communications and signalling. The line opened from Bullocks to Perisher on 26 July 1987 with the entire line officially opened on 29 August 1988.

Operations
The Swiss-designed railway provides easy access between the Alpine Way at Bullocks Flat and the Perisher Blue ski resort sites of Perisher Valley and Blue Cow Mountain. The Skitube passes through two tunnels and three stations, two of which are underground.

The line begins at Bullock Terminal at an altitude of 1125 metres and runs above ground for 2.6 km, crossing a three span 150 metre long steel truss bridge. A passing loop is located before entering the tunnel, which climbs on a 12.5 percent gradient to the Perisher Valley terminal. A provision for a second 300 metre long passing loop has been made inside the tunnel. To Blue Cow the line first drops downgrade, then climbs 1.3 km on a 3 percent gradient, then climbs at 12.5 percent to the terminus.

An off-peak schedule is run in early to late June and mid to late September, either side of the peak July-September ski season. Trains run between 5 am and 1 am, allowing for après-ski activities or night skiing. The Bullocks Flat terminus has a large, three-sided station with extensive parking, a pass office, a ski and snowboard school, information desk, kiosk, souvenir shop, and ski and snowboard hire shop. This allows day trippers to get tickets and equipment and be loaded for the 10-minute journey to the Perisher Valley station, and a further 7 minutes to Blue Cow. It is adjacent to the Lake Crackenback Resort (accommodation).

Technical details
The majority of the railway is underground, comprising the Bilston and Blue Cow tunnels, 3.3 km and 2.6 km long respectively. The depth of the tunnels varies from between 4 and 550 m, and their diameter between 5 and 5.5m. 30 kg/m second hand rail from State Rail was used to build the line, and two electrical substations are fed with 33 kV power, and output 1.5 kV DC for the overhead wiring.

Each of the carriages, which typically make up a 4, 3 or 2-carriage train, is 16.8m long and 3.8m wide, and can carry 225 passengers. This provides for the movement of around 4,500 people per hour. Eleven passenger cars in total were acquired, 4 motor cars, 4 driving trailers and 3 non driving trailers. The motor cars each have four 301 kW traction motors, making them the most powerful rack railway vehicles in the world. The braking system is mixed regenerative and rheostatic. The train is capable of 40km/h, however this is limited during the downhill journey to 21km/h.

Two four-wheel 'S' open wagons were acquired from the NSW State Rail Authority for freight traffic, and have been cut down to flat wagons.

The rack system Skitube operates on the Lamella System, which was developed by the Von Roll company.

Stations

 * Blue Cow
 * Bullocks Flat
 * Perisher Valley