Railways at war

In April, 1940, following a request from the British War Office, the Australian Railway Construction and Maintenance Group R.A. E. A. I. F. was formed under the command of Lt. Col. K.A. Fraser (later Commissioner of NSW Railways) and including railway employees from all states, to serve in France. In May, the unit embarked on the SS Stratheden and SS Largs Bay; with the entry of Italy into the war and subsequent collapse of France, the Stratheden was diverted to England while the unit members on the Largs Bay were disembarked at Freemantle and later transported to Palestine where they were joined by those who had reached England. Initially, the sections of the three construction companies and the survey company, which comprised the group, were deployed and the survey company, which comprised the group, were deployed on several railway tasks in various locations in Palestine, Egypt, TransJordan and along the Suez Canal. In the middle of 1941, with the possibility of requiring to transport large quantities of stores to Turkey, consideration of the construction of a standard gauge railway between Haifa and Rayak, where terminals already existed, became necessary.

• Record URL:
  https://railknowledgebank.com/Presto/content/Detail.aspx?ctID=MTk4MTRjNDUtNWQ0My00OTBmLTllYWUtZWFjM2U2OTE0ZDY3&rID=NDU3OQ==&qrs=RmFsc2U=&q=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&ph=VHJ1ZQ==&bckToL=VHJ1ZQ==&rrtc=VHJ1ZQ==
• Authors:
  • Stubbs J
• Conference:
  • Permanent Way Institution (PWI) NSW 1995 Annual Convention: Tunnelling, Tracking, Tilting, Titillating
• Publication Date: 1995

Media Info

• Pagination: 11p. ; PDF
• Monograph Title: Permanent Way Institution (PWI) NSW, 1995 annual convention

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: History; Railroad transportation; Railroads
• ATRI Terms: History; Rail transport
• Subject Areas: History; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01711414
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 19 2019 2:24PM