taken over by the Tasmanian Government in 1872. In 1876 the Tasmanian Main Line Company opened a narrow gauge line from Hobart to Evandale (near Launceston), connecting with an extension of the Launceston and Western line at a break-of-gauge. Further gauge confusion was added in 1885 when the Tasmanian Government built a narrow gauge line west of Deloraine to Devonport. This was resolved in 1888 by the conversion of the Launceston–Deloraine line to narrow gauge. The Tasmanian Government bought the Tasmanian Main Line Company in 1890, creating the Tasmanian Government Railways. In 1901 the line to Devonport line was extended to Burnie, connecting with the Emu Bay Railway's Melba line to Zeehan. Other branches were built but the Tasmanian system has always been small and unprofitable. Operated by the Tasmanian Government owned TasRail since 2009, previous owners include Australian National, Australian Transport Network and Pacific National. Off network gauges Development of the national network In the 19th century, railways were created to enable agricultural and minerals traffic to be carried to ports for export, and to allow passenger and freight operations between colonial capitals and regional areas. Coastal shipping handled most passenger and freight traffic between the colonies. John Whitton was appointed Engineer in Chief of the New South Wales Government Railways in 1856 and immediately advised his government that the short railway that had been opened in Sydney be converted to broad gauge in case the railways of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia ever joined, but he was refused because "... his political masters ... were unable to envisage intercolonial traffic ever developing." However, the problem of different gauges became apparent with the meeting of lines of the different systems at Albury in 1883 and Wallangarra in 1888. In the 1890s, the establishment of an Australian Federation from the six colonies was debated. One of the points of discussion was the extent that railways would be a federal responsibility. A vote to make it so was lost narrowly, instead the new constitution allows "the acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms arranged between the Commonwealth and the State" (Section 51 xxxiii) and "railway construction and extension in any State with the consent of that State" (Section 51 xxxiv). However, the Australian Government is free to provide funding to the states for rail upgrading projects under Section 96 ("the Parliament