Australia has about 40,000 km of railways, of which 25 per cent are found in New South Wales alone. The Australian Trans continental railway rail¬line runs west-east across the southern part of the continent from Perth on the west coast, to Sydney on the east coast passing through Kalgoorlie, Broken Hill and Port Augusta. Another major north- south line connects Adelaide and Alice Spring and to be joined further to the Darwin-Birdum line.