Comeng/ABB XPT

The XPT is New South Wales' long distance train, and it's been running into Brisbane on the standard gauge since February 1990, when it took over from the Brisbane Limited and the Pacific Coast Motorail. It's based on British Rail's High Speed Train, with a power car at each end and four to seven carriages in between. Comeng won the contract in 1979 and built the first ten power cars and twenty carriages at Granville. Testing started in August 1981, and the first four sets went into service on the Central West XPT to Dubbo in April 1982.

The HST design was changed quite a bit for Australia. The power cars are 50 cm shorter, the Paxman Valenta engine was turned down from 2,250 to 2,000 hp, the gearing was lowered for 160 km/h running, and the suspension, air filters and cooling were modified for rougher track and hotter, dustier conditions. The carriages are based on a Budd design. Comeng built more power cars and carriages through the 1980s, and in 1991 ABB, which had taken over Comeng's Dandenong plant, was given an order for four more power cars and thirteen carriages, taking the fleet to 19 power cars and 60 carriages. From June 2000 the Valentas were replaced by Paxman VP185s.

An XPT set the Australian rail speed record of 193 km/h between Table Top and Yerong Creek on 18 September 1992, and held it until QR's Electric Tilt Train went faster in May 1999. The power car on the front, XP2015, was renamed City of Bathurst after the run.

The Brisbane XPT was cut back from Murwillumbah to Casino in May 2004 when the Murwillumbah line closed, but the Brisbane service carries on into Roma Street. On 20 February 2020 the Sydney to Melbourne XPT, ST23, derailed while running through the loop at Wallan in Victoria, killing the driver and the pilot. The leading power car, XP2018, was rebuilt and came back as XP2019 in February 2023, and two carriages were written off.

The XPTs are due to be replaced by CAF's bi-mode Civity trains, the R sets, ordered in 2019. They were meant to arrive in 2023 but have been delayed, and they're now expected around 2028–2029. In the meantime the XPTs are getting a $40.3 million life extension that started in 2025, and in 2026 XP2006 and XP2009 were repainted in their original colours.