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 railway line is a railway line in Australia, between the South Australian town of Tarcoola and the Northern Territory city of Darwin. Preceded by a number of other shorter railways, a line through to Darwin was fully realised in 2004 when the final link from Alice Springs to Darwin was opened. Forming the main section of the 2,975 kilometres (1,849 mi) rail corridor between the cities of Adelaide and Darwin, the line is used by The Ghan passenger train and interstate freight trains operated by Aurizon.
Crystal Brook is a town in the Mid North of South Australia, 197 kilometres north of the capital, Adelaide. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the town was 1,322. Crystal Brook is in a very picturesque location, being at the start of the Flinders Ranges. The town has multiple viewing points and parks. It was named after the spring-fed creek next to which it was founded.
Rail transport in Australia is a component of the Australian transport system. It is to a large extent state-based, as each state largely has its own operations, with the interstate network being developed ever since Australia's federation in 1901. As of 2022, the Australian rail network consists of a total of 32,929 kilometres (20,461 mi) of track built to three major track gauges: 18,007 kilometres (11,189 mi) of standard gauge, 2,685 kilometres (1,668 mi) of broad gauge, and 11,914 kilometres (7,403 mi) of narrow gauge lines. Additionally, about 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) of 610 mm / 2 ft gauge lines support the sugar-cane industry. 3,488 kilometres (2,167 mi), around 11 per cent of the Australian heavy railways network route-kilometres are electrified.
The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1241 km (771 mi) 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Augusta to Maree in 1957 on a new nearby alignment. The entire Central Australia Railway was superseded in 1980 after the standard gauge Tarcoola–Alice Springs Railway was opened, using a new route up to 200 km to the west. A small southern section of the original line between Port Augusta and Quorn has been preserved as the Pichi Richi Tourist Railway.
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 first railway in colonial South Australia was a line from the port of Goolwa on the River Murray to an ocean harbour at Port Elliot, which first operated in December 1853, before its completion in May 1854.
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation.
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.
Tarcoola is a town in the Far North of South Australia 416 kilometres (258 mi) north-northwest of Port Augusta. At the 2016 census, Tarcoola had no people living within its boundaries.
Salisbury railway station is a railway station and bus interchange in the northern Adelaide suburb of Salisbury. It is on the Gawler line, 20.2 kilometres (12.6 mi) from Adelaide station. Adjoining it is a large park & ride carpark, making it one of the busiest stations on the Adelaide suburban rail system.
Kingoonya, originally spelt Kingoonyah, pronounced, was a small settlement, or township, now almost totally abandoned, in the central outback of the Australian state of South Australia. It was established in 1916 as a railway settlement on the Trans-Australian Railway, mainly to provide refuelling for steam trains and track maintenance services; it also served about 200 families living on sheep grazing properties in the region.
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.
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.
Alice Springs railway station is located on the Adelaide–Darwin railway in Alice Springs.
The Adelaide–Port Augusta railway line is the main route for northbound rail traffic out of Adelaide, South Australia. The line, 315 kilometres long, is part of the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor and the Sydney–Perth rail corridor.
When the Trans-Australian Railway was completed in 1917 from Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta, about 50 settlements of various sizes were established along the line, from which maintenance workers kept the track in operational condition. They and their families led an isolated life, although they were supplied with provisions by a weekly special train, which also provided banking and postal facilities. Passenger trains were hauled by steam locomotives, which needed to take on water at various stopping places. The 1930s to 1940s services required regular stops on the traverse.
Coonamia railway station was a "provisional stopping place" for passenger trains in the rural locality of the same name, 5.0 km (3.1 mi) by rail south-east of the centre of the city of Port Pirie, South Australia. It was operational for two separate periods:
Port Pirie railway station (Mary Elie Street) was the fifth of six railway stations for passengers that operated at various times from 1876 to serve the small maritime town (later city) of Port Pirie, 216 kilometres (134 miles) by rail north of Adelaide, South Australia. As with several of Port Pirie's other stations before it, the station was built to accommodate a change of track gauge on railway lines leading into the town.
