| The daily Melbourne to Sydney XPT makes a hard turn on the Bethungra Spiral. This is the back end- the lead unit is already in the tunnel as it makes a complete 360 degree climbing turn to the right. The spiral (what we call a loop in the US) was built on the Sydney-Melbourne Main South during WWII to reduce grades for "up" (towards Sydney, eastbound) train. "Down" (away from Sydney, westbound) trains use the original grade. |