Railway Construction Act 1884

The Victorian Government's Act No. 821, Railway Construction Act 1884, authorised the construction of 59 new railway lines. Created by then Minister for Railways, Thomas Bent, and passed on December 12, 1884, it became notorious for the excessive number of inner-city railways it created, and received the nickname "the Octopus Act". The depression of the 1890s soon rendered many of these lines unviable.

Implementation

The task of implementing the act fell to Richard Speight, Railway Commissioner at the time, a role created by the Victorian Railways Commissioners Act of 1883.

Beneficiaries of the act included construction engineers such as Andrew O'Keefe, and politicans such as Thomas Bent himself, who reaped the rewards of commissioning construction in their own electorates.

By 1892, outrage at the excesses of this construction boom, including a number of "white elephants", led to the sacking of Speight, Richard Ford and A J Agg, the other commissioners. Then, the Railways Act of 1892, attempted to reverse some of the damage.

See also

• Rail transport in Victoria

Sources

• http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/onthisday/decade.cfm?d=1880
• http://www.vicrailstations.com/Outer_Circle/Outer_Circle.html
• http://www.vrhistory.com/VRMaps/
• http://www.northernbullants.com.au/media/Archives/OurTown/1889TheRailway.html

External links

• Victorian railway map of 1880
• Victorian railway map of 1890