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BOARD THE GHAN YOU FOLLOW in the
footsteps of the early explorers through the very
heart of Australia. Australian trains... the lifelines
that stitched that vast continent together in the
19th century... |
are still making some of the worlds long train journeys. The country's most historic railway,
the Ghan, which connects Adelaide in the south through Alice
Springs in the centre to Darwin, also serves Melbourne and Sydney. Travelers now
ride in comfort through the outback to "Alice,"
gateway to the mysterious Ayers Rock (Uluru)..., Olgas
rock formations... The Devils Marbles... Kings Canyon
and on to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory... Along the way, rail tours can be taken to broaden the experience.
The success of today's Ghan is a far cry from the misbegotten
venture that started in 1877 with the idea of linking
Adelaide and Darwin... When the railway ran out of track, passengers finished
the trip by camel train, led by Afghani cameleers (for
whom the train is named). Unexpected rains regularly
washed out the roadbed, and tales of supplies dropped
to stranded passengers are part of the lore.
It still took 50 years to get The Ghan to Alice Springs,
and it became the only major passenger line in the world
built this century. In February of 2004, the Ghan
finally reached Darwin. En route, the new rail
line from Alice Springs passes through Tennant Creek,
Katherine, Pine Creek and Adelaide River before reaching
Darwin in the top end.
For an interesting read about the construction of this
extension, see how this line was built.
In the early 1970s the federal government took over
the railway, laid stable track and launched the New
Ghan in the 1980s. Since 1997, The Ghan has been owned and
operated by the Great Southern Railway, which at the
same time took control of the other Australian National
Passenger Rail properties... the Indian Pacific,
which runs between Sydney and Perth; and the Overlander,
operating between Melbourne and Adelaide.
Today's Ghan is a refurbished, upscale version of the
original train, with all the comforts of long-distance
rail travel and the opportunity to take rail tours along the way. It is no longer a perilous and unpredictable
adventure, but as it rolls across the Outback, you can
still experience some of the old flavour of the legendary
Ghan... and as you come to understand why it is regarded as one of the world's great long train journeys.
The starkly beautiful, unforgiving landscape of the
Outback is the prime attraction of the 20 hour 1555
km (972-mile) trip to the Alice, past mountain ranges,
the Murray River and dry creek beds, over the red-baked
earth of the Simpson Desert and endless acres of flat
empty scrub. A single dirt road parallels the train
tracks, but even one vehicle is a rarity... Leaving the Alice, you travel overnight arriving in Darwin in the late afternoon of the next day... Along the way, off rail tours of Nitmiluk National Park's famous gorges are available by boat or helicopter.
The Ghan Museum,
in a restored Outback station just outside Alice Springs,
displays a collection of original rolling stock and
memorabilia from Australia's pioneering railway era.
In its standard configuration, the Ghan accommodates
up to 276 passengers in three types of air-conditioned
accommodations... 88 in five first-class cars, 64 in
two economy-class cars and 124 in two coach-class cars.
Additional carriages can double that number.
The Ghan makes two weekly trips between Adelaide and
Darwin. It leaves Adelaide on Sunday and Wednesday at
5:15 pm, arriving in Darwin 47 hours later. It departs
Darwin for Adelaide every Wednesday and Saturday.
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