Canberra railway station is located in Kingston

Kingston, Australian Capital Territory

Kingston is the oldest and most densely populated suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb is named after Charles Cameron Kingston, the former Premier of South Australia and minister in the first Australian Commonwealth Government. It is adjacent to the suburbs of...

, Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

. The station is the terminus for CountryLink

CountryLink

CountryLink is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, Australia and into Queensland and Victoria. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity...

 rail services from Sydney. It is the only operating railway station in the ACT.

In 1913 when Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

 was founded and named, work began immediately on a new rail link to the capital from Queanbeyan

Queanbeyan, New South Wales

Queanbeyan is a regional centre in the Southern Tablelands in south-eastern New South Wales adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory. The city's mixed economy is based on light construction, high technology, manufacturing, service, retail and agriculture. It is the council seat of the...

 (on the Goulburn-Bombala branch line) to the Eastlake station site, now the station at Kingston. The line was constructed by the New South Wales Public Works Department on behalf of the Commonwealth.

The station building opened on 21 April 1924. From 1927 when Federal Parliament moved to Canberra, the rail passenger service was upgraded with the introduction of a Canberra portion of the Cooma-Sydney overnight Mail connecting with Melbourne night trains at Goulburn Junction

Goulburn railway station, New South Wales

-Neighbouring stations:-References:...

.

A new passenger terminal building was constructed in 1966.

Platforms and services

• CountryLink Southern
  CountryLink
  CountryLink is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, Australia and into Queensland and Victoria. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity...
  
  - terminating services; returning as country services to Sydney Terminal

Kingston to Civic Railway

Griffin's original intention was for a railway to come to Canberra City, with stations on the north, east and south.

Work started in December 1920. The railway cost £A

Australian pound

The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...

5370 and opened on 15 June 1921. It branched off from the Queanbeyan Canberra line at the Power House siding near Cunningham Street. It headed north on a raised embankment through the Causeway, and across the Molonglo River. The bridges over Jerrabombera Creek and Molonglo River

Molonglo River

The Molonglo River rises on the western side of the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia in the state of New South Wales. Its source is on the other side of the mountain range from where the Shoalhaven River rises, in Tallaganda state forest at ~1200 metres altitude...

 were of low temporary standard. A siding was provided to the north of the river at Russell for the workers camp that was there. The line curved to the north west in Reid, behind St Johns Church and the TAFE. A platform for the railway was built in what is now Garema Place. Finally a line continued to the north to Eloura Street in Braddon where there was a marshalling yard.

The track was owned and maintained by the Commonwealth Railways

Commonwealth Railways

The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1912, as part of a government department, currently called the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, by the Government of Australia to construct the missing link in the east-west transcontinental railway and...

 with trains operated by the New South Wales Government Railways.

In July 1922 a flood on the Molonglo River washed away the legs on the trestle bridge, and left the bridge deck suspended by the rails, and sagging into the water. The bridge was never reconstructed. However plans were made to extend the railway line to Yass in 1924 and 1934.

Brickworks tramway

A 1,067-millimetre line was built in 1923 from the Yarralumla

Yarralumla

Yarralumla may refer to:* Government House, Canberra, the residence of the Governor-General of Australia known as Yarralumla* Yarralumla, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra* Yarralumla Primary School...

 brickworks to Old Parliament house. This passed along Adelaide Avenue, and round the north of State Circle. A branch went to the Hotel Canberra. The line continued to the Power House in Kingston. The brickworks tramway was extended to Civic. It crossed the Molonglo on a bridge near Scotts Crossing. The older 4-foot-8½-inch-wide (4 foot) track was reduced to the 3+1/2 ft by shifting one rail. The tramway terminated at the Civic Centre Station. The tramway was dismantled on 9 May 1927 as a cleanup for the opening of parliament house.

Railways planned but never built

Plans were drawn up for a railway to the Tuggeranong Arsenal. The Tuggeranong Arsenal was planned in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, but never eventuated. It included a hospital near the Kambah Wool Shed, A small arms factory near Pine Island, and a civic centre. The route ran from the Queanbeyan line via Macarthur, Fadden, Erindale, Waniassa and Oxley to a station in north east Greenway.

A plan was also drawn for a Canberra-Jervis Bay Railway in 1914. By 1921 plans were given up to build this.

There was also a proposal to build a railway between Canberra and Yass, and this was specified in the Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909. This was last considered by the government in 1971. The route was not considered to be economically justified.

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