The Ghan

The Ghan
Background
Locale	Australia
Transit type	Transcontinental passenger rail
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	14
Operation
Began operation	1929
Operator(s)	Great Southern Rail
Technical
System length	2,979 km (1,851 mi)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)

The Ghan
Darwin Katherine Tennant Creek Alice Springs Kulgera Northern Territory / South Australia border Chandler Marla Coober Pedy (Manguri) Tarcoola Kingoonya Pimba Port Augusta Coonamia near Port Pirie Adelaide Parklands Terminal

The Ghan is a passenger train operating between Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin railway in Australia. Operated by Great Southern Rail, the journey takes 54 hours to travel the 2,979 kilometres (1,851 mi) with a four-hour stopover in Alice Springs.^[1]

Etymology

The service's name is an abbreviated version of its previous nickname The Afghan Express, unofficially bestowed service name in 1923, by one of its crews.^[2] The train's name honours Afghan camel drivers who arrived in Australia in the late 19th century to help find a way to reach the country's unexplored interior.^[3]

Operations

The Ghan normally runs weekly year round except for June until September when a second service operates.^[1] In addition to Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin, the train also makes a stop at Katherine. The stops at Katherine and Alice Springs allow time for optional tours.^[4] During December 2012 and January 2013 it ran only every two weeks.^[1]

The Ghan is operated by Great Southern Rail, part of the Serco Group. It is formed of between 16 and 26 carriages built by Comeng, Granville in the late 1960s / early 1970s for the Indian Pacific plus a motorail wagon.^[5] Haulage is provided by a Pacific National NR class locomotive.

History

Starting in August 1929, the Ghan first ran on the Central Australian Railway originally built as a 1067 mm (3 feet 6 inches) narrow-gauge railway that ran as far north as Alice Springs. In 1957, a 1435 mm (4 feet 8½ inches) standard gauge line opened between Stirling North and Marree line and the Ghan was curtailed to operate only north of Marree. In October 1980 the remainder of the line was replaced by a new standard gauge line, built to the west of the original line. This was extended northwards from Alice Springs to Darwin, opening in January 2004.^[6]

Original Ghan

The route of the Old Ghan

Construction of what was then known as the Port Augusta to Government Gums Railway began in 1878 when Premier of South Australia William Jervois broke ground at Port Augusta.^[2] The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) line reached Hawker in June 1880, Beltana in July 1881, Marree in January 1884 and Oodnadatta in January 1891.^[7] It was not until 1926 that the extension of the line to Alice Springs began,^[8] and that section was completed in 1929. Until then, the final leg of the train journey was still made by camel.^[9]

While there were plans from the beginning to extend the line through to Darwin, by the time the Alice Springs connection was complete, the Ghan was running at a financial loss, and plans for connection to Darwin were put on indefinite hold.^[10] The original Ghan line followed the same track as the overland telegraph, which is believed to be the route taken by John McDouall Stuart during his 1862 crossing of Australia.^[11]

The Ghan service was notorious for washouts of the track and other delays, and a flatcar immediately behind the locomotive carried spare sleepers and railway tools, so that if a washout was encountered the passengers and crew could work as a railway gang to repair the line and permit the train to continue. This very uncertain service was tolerated because steam locomotives needed large quantities of water, and Stuart's route to Alice Springs was the only one that had sufficient available water.

During World War II the service had to be greatly expanded, putting great pressure on the limited water supplies. As a result, de-mineralisation towers, some of which survive to this day, were built along the track so that bore water could be used. When a new line to Alice Springs was built in the 1970s, the use of diesel locomotives meant that there was far less need for water, thus allowing the line to take the much drier route from Tarcoola to Alice Springs.

The original Ghan was featured in an episode of BBC Television's series Great Railway Journeys of the World in 1980, presented by Michael Frayn.

New line

The original Ghan ran for the last time in 1980^[9] and now its preservation is in the hands of The Ghan Preservation Society, which repairs sections of the old narrow gauge track and some notable sidings.^[12] It was not until October 1980 that a new standard gauge line from Tarcoola, South Australia (a siding on the Trans-Australian Railway) to Alice Springs was opened, and the train took the form it has today. The new line is located approximately 160 kilometres (99 mi) west of the former line, in an effort to prevent washout due to rain.^[9] It was also hoped that the construction of the new line would improve the on-time performance of the train.^[10]

The modern Ghan has featured in a recent episode of Channel 5 Television's series Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways.

Connection to Darwin

Construction of Alice Springs–Darwin line was believed to be the second-largest civil engineering project in Australia, and the largest in the 50 years^[13] since the creation of the Snowy Mountains Scheme (built 1949–1974).^[14] Line construction began in July 2001, with the first passenger train reaching Darwin on 4 February 2004, after 126 years of planning and waiting^[15] and at a cost of A$1.3 billion.^[16]

The Ghan's arrival in Darwin signified a new era of tourism in the Northern Territory,^[17] making travel to the region easier and more convenient as well as providing better access to and for Aboriginal communities in the region.^[18] The rail link will allow for more freight to travel through the region, leading to a hope that Darwin will serve as another trade link with Asia.^[19]

In preparation for the connection to Darwin, one of the locomotives was named after Steve Irwin in a hope that the internationally-recognised face of Australia would help promote the new service and tourism to the region.^[20]

The Ghan at Alice Springs 12 March 2007

Pacific National NR74 in Ghan livery

The Ghan Second Class Restaurant Car

Incidents

• On 24 October 2002, the Ghan collided with a school bus in Salisbury in South Australia. Four people on the bus were killed, but there were no significant injuries to the Ghan passengers.^[21]
• On 12 December 2006, the Ghan collided with a truck at a level crossing and derailed 35 km south of Adelaide River in the Northern Territory. Seven of the 11 carriages came off the tracks. One woman was critically injured, other passengers received only minor injuries. The truck driver involved was arrested, according to the NT police,^[22] charged and found guilty^[23] of a number of charges related to the accident.
• On 4 March 2007, rains washed out a portion of the track between Darwin and Adelaide River. During the time that it took to repair the track, all trains terminated in Katherine.^[24]
• On 6 August 2007, the Ghan collided with a truck at a level crossing 50 km (31 mi) north of Adelaide in South Australia. Three passengers were reported with minor injuries, suffering from shock. The truck driver was temporarily trapped in his vehicle.^[25]
• On 6 June 2009, a nineteen-year-old American tourist clung to the outside of the Ghan for two hours and 200 km when, after returning to the train after a stop in Port Augusta, he found himself locked out with his passport and luggage inside the train. He was only rescued when technician Marty Wells heard his screams and stopped the train.^[26]

References

Notes

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Ghan.

• The Ghan homepage
• The Ghan ephemera digitised and held by the National Library of Australia