The Australian state of New South Wales has an extensive network of railways, which were integral to the growth and development of the state. The vast majority of railway lines were government built and operated, but there were also several private railways, some of which operate to this day. Organisation During the 20th century the railways have always been run by a state-owned entity, which has undergone a number of different minor name changes, including the Department of Railways, New South Wales Railways and New South Wales Government Railways. It also ran freight services until 2001, when this business was taken over by Pacific National. Three government entities currently have responsibility for the New South Wales railways. They are: Transport Asset Holding Entity – asset owner Sydney Trains – infrastructure operator, maintainer, and operator of suburban train services, and NSW TrainLink – operator of regional and intercity train service Since 2003, the NSW interstate, Sydney metropolitan freight, Hunter Valley coal, and country branch line networks have been run by private operators. Until January 2012, these networks were all operated by the Australian Rail Track Corporation, however control of the Country Regional (branch line) Network moved to John Holland Group in January 2012. In February 2021, Transport for NSW announced that UGL will operate and maintain the Country Regional Network (CRN) on behalf of Transport for NSW for 10 years starting from January 2022, following a competitive tender process. History New South Wales' railways date from 10 December 1831 when the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway, located at the intersection of Brown and Church Streets, Newcastle. Privately owned and operated to service the A Pit coal mine, it was a cast-iron fishbelly rail on an inclined plane as a gravitational railway. Many proposals for routing the proposed lines were put forth, researched, surveyed and reported on. Three main routes for the Main Southern line were reported on by Mr Woore. There were three main routes researched for crossing the Blue Mountains requiring much effort just for the surveys. The first public line was built from Sydney to Parramatta Junction (actually in Granville) and opened in 1855. The first six stations were; Sydney, Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood, Homebush, and Parramatta. The first common-carrier railway to operate in Australia, however, was the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, in Victoria, which opened on 12 September 1854, over a year before the