Skitube Alpine Railway
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AU_Ski_Tube_railway.jpg
The Skitube Alpine Railway is a rack-driven, electric railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. The Swiss-designed railway provides easy access between the Alpine Way at Bullocks Flat, Perisher Valley, and the Perisher Blue and Blue Cow Mountain ski resorts, passing through two tunnels and three stations, two of which are underground. An off peak schedule is run during early-late June and mid-late September, either side of the peak ski season July-September. Skiers can get trains between 5am and 1am, allowing for apres ski activities or night skiing in the evenings.
The Skitube was built to provide better access to the skifields and resorts in the area during winter. The single road which provided the only access before the construction of the railway was (and still is) often blocked by adverse weather conditions. The 8.5 km-long, standard gauge railway was built between October 1984 and March 1988. The majority of the railway is underground, comprising the Bilston and Blue Cow tunnels, being 3.3 and 2.6 km long respectively. The depth of the tunnels varies from between 4 and 550m, and their diameter between 5 and 5.5m.
The Bullocks Flat terminus has an extensive, 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. It is a further 7 minutes to Blue Cow. It is adjacent to the Lake Crackenback Resort (accommodation).
Each of the carriages, which typically make up a 4-carriage train, is 16.8m long, 3.8m wide, and can carry 225 passengers at once. This provides for the movement of around 4,500 people per hour.
The rack system Skitube operates on was designed by the Swiss engineer Roman Abt, and was first used in Germany's Harz Mountains in 1885.
List of stations
- Bullocks Flat
- Perisher Valley
- Blue Cow
See also
External links
- Skitube official website (http://www.perisherblue.com.au/winter/skitube/)
- Perisher Blue resort website (http://www.perisherblue.com.au/winter/index.shtml)