One Nation (infrastructure)

One Nation was an Australian Government program of infrastructure development carried out under the Keating Government from 1991 to 1996. Much of the program was implemented as a means of stimulating the economy in the aftermath of the early 1990s recession.

Key elements of the One Nation program included:

• the Melbourne–Adelaide railway line was converted to standard gauge in 1995.¹
• the 1067mm gauge Fisherman Islands railway line to the Port of Brisbane was converted to dual 1435/1067 mm gauge and extended in parallel with the duplicated passenger line to Dutton Park in 1997.²³
• a standard gauge link was built to the port at Fremantle, Western Australia.
• new standard gauge sidings were provided at Adelaide Outer Harbor.
• a separate freight line was built between Macarthur and Glenfield as the first stage of what is now known as the Southern Sydney Freight Line. Its planned extension to the Chullora – Enfield freight line near Sefton was completed in 2013 by the Australian Rail Track Corporation with funds provided by the Australian Government under AusLink.
• the Sydney–Brisbane railway line was upgraded with longer passing loops, the replacement of wooden trestles with concrete bridges, concrete resleepering, some minor deviations and bank stabilisation.
• passing loops were extended on the North East railway line between Wodonga and Melbourne.
• overhead clearances on the Adelaide–Perth railway were increased to allow for the transit of double-stacked containers.