Industry | Experiential tourism |
---|---|
Founded | 1 November 1997 |
Key people | Chris Tallent, Great Southern Rail CEO (2012-2016) and Journey Beyond Group CEO (2016-) [1] |
Parent | Hornblower Group |
Website | journeybeyondrail |
Journey Beyond is the business name (together with more than a dozen other related names) of Experience Australia Group Pty Ltd, a private-equity-owned company, known mainly for operating Australian interstate experiential tourism trains ( The Ghan , the Indian Pacific , and the Great Southern ) and The Overland . As of December 2021 [update] , the company was a diversified tourism business based in Adelaide, South Australia, with interests in cruise and air tourism in addition to rail. In January 2022, the United States travel company the Hornblower Group acquired the business from Quadrant Private Equity, which had owned it since 2016.
Before the 1990s, the government-owned Australian National Railways Commission, trading as Australian National, was the owner and operator of Australia's interstate railways and freight and passenger trains, operated under a subsidiary known as Pax Rail. From 1996 to 1998, Australian National was broken up and in 1997 its interstate passenger trains — The Ghan , Indian Pacific and The Overland — were sold to Great Southern Rail (GSR), a consortium of GB Railways, Legal & General, Macquarie Bank, RailAmerica, G13 Pty Ltd [2] and Serco, at a book-valuation of $16m. [3]
Included in the sale were 186 items of rolling stock, mainly former Commonwealth Railways stainless steel carriages and the Adelaide Parklands Terminal and Alice Springs railway station. [4] In October 1999, Serco bought the remaining 50.8% of shares from its consortium partners for $18.9m, becoming the sole owner. [5] [6] [7] GSR owned the passenger car fleet and provided services, and Pacific National provided the motive power.
Between 2008 and 2012, Great Southern Rail operated The Southern Spirit as a luxury cruising train service offering eight luxury rail cruises on a variety of outback Australian train routes. [8]
In 2015, Serco sold the business to private equity company Allegro Funds [9] for an enterprise value and cash consideration variously reported as "below A$20 million" [10] to "£2.5 million" [11] (around A$4.9 million). Allegro led a transformation of GSR from a transport operator heavily dependent on government subsidies, to a profitable experiential travel provider. 16 months after their initial purchase, Allegro sold a 70% stake in the company to Quadrant Private Equity for an undisclosed price, but speculated to value the company at A$100-200 million. [12] [13]
In 2019, Great Southern Rail was re-branded as Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions and Great Southern became the name of a train running between Adelaide and Brisbane. [14] [15] Subsequently the brand name reverted to Journey Beyond. [16]
Acquisitions since 2015 included Cruise Whitsundays and Rottnest Express, the Eureka Tower Skydeck, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, Outback Spirit Tours, Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef and Darwin Harbour Cruises. As of 2022 [update] , it was Australia's largest experiential tourism business. [1]
In January 2022, Quadrant Private Equity sold its 13 brands, including the trains, for a reported AU$600 million. The buyer was the Hornblower Group, a cruise and tour company based in San Francisco, which operates from 125 American cities and whose businesses include Hornblower Cruises. [17] After failing to find a buyer for Journey Beyond in late 2023, Hornblower filed for bankruptcy in February 2024; Journey Beyond was separated from the group and came under sole ownership of Hornblower's former owners, Crestview Partners [18] [19]
Great Southern Railway may refer to:
The Ghan is an experiential tourism-oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. Operated by Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions, its scheduled travelling time, including extended stops for passengers to do off-train tours, is 53 hours 15 minutes to travel the 2,979 kilometres (1,851 mi). The Ghan has been described as one of the world's greatest passenger trains.
The Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor consists of the 2975-kilometre (1849-mile) long 1435 mm standard-gauge main line between the South Australian capital city of Adelaide and the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, and the lines immediately connected to it. Preceded by a number of other shorter railways, a transcontinental line through to Darwin was only fully realised in 2004, when the final link from Alice Springs was opened. The line is used by interstate freight trains operated by Aurizon and by The Ghan passenger train operated by Journey Beyond.
The Indian Pacific is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, like its counterpart in the north–south corridor, The Ghan, one of the few truly transcontinental trains in the world. It first ran in 1970 after the completion of gauge conversion projects in South Australia and Western Australia, enabling for the first time a cross-continental rail journey that did not have a break of gauge.
The rail network in Adelaide, South Australia, consists of four lines and 89 stations, totalling 132 km (82 mi). It is operated by Keolis Downer under contract from the Government of South Australia, and is part of the citywide Adelaide Metro public transport system.
The Overland is an interstate passenger train service in Australia, travelling between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the Adelaide Express, known by South Australians as the Melbourne Express. It was given its current name in 1936. Now operated by private company Journey Beyond, the train undertakes two return trips a week. Originally an overnight train that stopped at large intermediate stations, it now operates during the day, stopping less frequently.
The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the eastern states, the line is economically and strategically important. The railway includes the world's longest section of completely straight track.
Adelaide Parklands Terminal, formerly known as Keswick Terminal, is the interstate passenger railway station in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the only station in the world where passengers can board trains on both north–south and east–west transcontinental routes.
Chandler, in the far north-west corner of the state of South Australia, is a rail siding on the Adelaide-Darwin rail corridor. It is about 56 kilometres (35 mi) north of the town of Marla near the junction of the Stuart Highway and the entry to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal lands.
One Rail Australia was an Australian rail freight operator company. Founded by a United States short line railroad holding company, Genesee & Wyoming Inc, in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and successively renamed Australian Railroad Group and Genesee & Wyoming Australia, it was renamed One Rail Australia in February 2020 after the American company sold its remaining shareholding. In July 2022, assets from the South Australian, Northern Territory and interstate operations of the company were sold to rail operator company Aurizon Holdings Limited. The remaining assets, relating to coal haulage in New South Wales and Queensland, were sold in February 2023 to Magnetic Rail Group.
The Sydney–Perth rail corridor is a 1435 mmstandard gauge railway route that runs for 4352 kilometres (2704 mi) across Australia from Sydney, New South Wales, to Perth, Western Australia. Most of the route is under the control of the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
The Southern Spirit was a luxury rail cruise train operated by Great Southern Rail in Australia. The train was launched in June 2008 and was planned to travel all over Australia, with the first service originally planned to have run in November 2008. The train was planned to operate from November to February each year, and combine train travel with overnight hotel stays, and other experiences similar to land excursions during sea cruises.
Alice Springs railway station is located on the Adelaide–Darwin railway in Alice Springs.
Hornblower Cruises is a San Francisco–based charter yacht, dining cruise and ferry service company. In 2021, the company rebranded most of its services as City Cruises or City Experiences. In 2024, the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
Luxury trains are a premium passenger rail service. Some luxury trains promote tourism in destinations across a region, while others take passengers on a ride through a single country.
Port Augusta railway station is a rail station located on the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line in Port Augusta, South Australia.
Quadrant Private Equity is an Australian private equity investment firm based in Sydney, Australia. The company was founded as Quadrant Capital in 1996 by Chris Hadley. By 2022, the Managing Partner was Jonathan Pearce.
The Great Southern is an Australian experiential tourism train operated by Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions between Adelaide and Brisbane both ways. The inaugural journey departed from Adelaide on 6 December 2019. While Roma Street station handles all other long-distance rail services to and from Brisbane, the Great Southern does not operate to Roma Street due to the length of the train. Instead, the service terminates at a freight terminal located in the southern suburb of Acacia Ridge.
Manguri Siding is located in the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor at the locality of Mount Clarence Station, about 42 kilometres (26 mi) west of the opal mining town of Coober Pedy.
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