The Ghan

The Ghan is a passenger train focused on experiential tourism, running between Australia’s northern and southern coasts along the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor, with stops in Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin. Operated by the Adelaide-based company Journey Beyond, the trip covers 2,979 kilometres in a scheduled 53 hours and 15 minutes, which includes extended stops for passengers to take off-train tours. It has been called one of the world’s greatest passenger trains. The name “The Ghan” is a shortened version of its earlier nickname, “The Afghan Express.” The nickname is reputed to have been bestowed in 1923 by one of its crews.

Etymology

One theory holds that the name honors Afghan camel drivers who came to Australia in the late 1800s to help British colonists explore the interior. Another view suggests the name was originally an insult. In 1891, the railway reached Oodnadatta, where about 150 cameleers, generically called “Afghans,” were based. The “Ghan Express” name reportedly started as a taunt from train crews in the 1890s: after an expensive sleeping car was added on the Quorn-to-Oodnadatta route, the only passenger on its first return trip was an Afghan, mocking the service’s commercial sense.

By 1924, European pastoralists commonly called the unreliable fortnightly steam train “The Afghan Express” in a ribald way. When diesel-electric locomotives replaced steam in 1951, this disparaging nickname faded, much like the cameleers themselves. Modern marketing later completed the turnaround in the name’s meaning.

Operations

The Ghan was privatized in 1997 and has since been run by Journey Beyond Rail Expeditions, formerly Great Southern Rail, initially under the Serco Group. In March 2015, Great Southern Rail was sold to Allegro Funds, a Sydney investment firm. The train runs at least once a week. Until 2016, a second service ran from June to September; it resumed in May 2019 due to demand.

The train stops at Adelaide, Alice Springs, Katherine, and Darwin, with stops at Alice Springs and Katherine allowing time for optional tours. Each train typically has 28 stainless steel carriages built by Comeng in Granville in the late 1960s and early 1970s for the Indian Pacific, plus a motorail wagon. The average train length is 774 metres. Two Pacific National NR class locomotives haul the train; previously, AN class or DL class locomotives were used.