The Ghan - Definition and Overview

The Ghan is the 48-hour, 2,979-km passenger service on the Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin Central Australian Railway in Australia. The service's name is an abbreviated version of its previous nickname The Afghan Express, which in turn comes from the Afghan camel trains which trekked the same route before the advent of the railway.

History

Initial construction was by South Australian Railways as a narrow gauge (3' 6") line.

• January 18, 1878: Construction of southern line from Port Augusta starts
• 1879: South: Quorn reached
• 1883: South: Marree reached
• 1883: Construction of northern line from Palmerston (Darwin) starts
• 1888: North: Pine Creek reached
• 1891: South: Oodnadatta reached
• 1910: First promise to complete the line in the Acceptance Act (but no date given)
• 1926: Line acquired by Commonwealth Railways
• 1926: North: Katherine reached
• 1929: North: Birdum reached, terminus at Larrimah
• August 6, 1929: South: Alice Springs reached, The Ghan starts running under current name; the northern and southern part are not connected.

The tortuously curving narrow gauge line was notoriously prone to delays, often caused by flash floods washing away bridges and tracks. A decision was thus made to rebuild the entire line with a straighter alignment some 150 km east of the existing track, this time using standard gauge.

• 1957: South: Line from Stirling North (near Port Augusta) to Marree rebuilt and connected to Adelaide
  • Some sections of the narrow gauge track remain in operation as the Pichi Richi Railway
• 1976: Northern line closed
• October 1980: New track from Tarcoola to Alice Springs opens
• July 2001: Construction of Alice Springs-Darwin track starts
• September 17 2003: Darwin reached, the line from Adelaide to Darwin is complete
• January 17 2004: First cargo train reaches Darwin
• February 4 2004: First passenger train reaches Darwin