In this special issue, we focus on some of Australia’s biggest rail projects currently in the pipeline, as well as looking towards the sector’s future in the years to come.

We catch up with the latest developments in the contentious Inland Rail project, which has been more than a decade in the making, and ask whether it can live up to its ambitious promises.

As Australia stands out as the only continent lacking in high-speed networks, our map feature traces the country’s potential such routes, particularly along the east coast.

We also investigate the troubled Sydney Light Rail project, which is as close to an urban nightmare as it gets, marred by delays, cost overruns and a bitter legal dispute with a major subcontractor.

Finally, we look towards the future to learn how Australia’s railway stations can improve in terms of design and passenger satisfaction, and take a look inside the continent’s first ever rail training centre funded by the Australian Government, which employs an international research team tasked with training up the next generation of rail engineers.

Read on for all this and ­­­­join the conversation on Twitter.

Eva Grey, editor