On May 23 one of Queensland Railways’ two six-car tilting EMUs set a new world record speed for a passenger-carrying train on narrow-gauge tracks. The 1 067 mm gauge trainset reached 210 km/h near Bundaberg on the recently upgraded Brisbane - Rockhampton line.
On board for the record run were QR Chief Executive Vince O’Rourke and CEO of supplier Evans Deakins Industries Ross Dunning, who was project manager for the line’s electrification in the early 1980s.
The two units were built by EDI subsidiary Walkers of Maryborough, with traction and tilting equipment from Hitachi of Japan derived from the JR Shikoku Series 8000 design. They normally cover the 622 km run to Rockhampton in 7 h at a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
The high-speed run was conducted as part of a research programme for the development of a diesel-powered tilting train for QR to operate on Brisbane - Cairns services beyond the 25 kV electrification.
