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.” Train crews are said to have given it this nickname in 1923. 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.

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. Pacific National provides the locomotive crews, while Journey Beyond employs the on-train staff.

The Ghan began running in August 1929 on the Central Australia Railway, a narrow-gauge line (1,067 mm) built to Alice Springs under Commonwealth Railways Chief Engineer N. G. Bell. In 1957, a standard-gauge line (1,435 mm) opened from Stirling North to Marree, and the Ghan was shortened to run only north of Marree. In October 1980, the remaining narrow-gauge line was replaced by a standard-gauge line built further west. An extension north from Alice Springs to Darwin opened in January 2004.

Construction of the original line, then called the Port Augusta to Government Gums Railway, began in 1878 when South Australian Premier William Jervois broke ground at Port Augusta. The 1,067 mm line reached Hawker in June 1880, Beltana in July 1881, Marree in January 1884, and Oodnadatta in January 1891. Work on the extension to Alice Springs started in 1926 and finished in 1929. Until then, the final leg of the journey was still made by camel. Although there were early plans to extend the line to Darwin, by the time the Alice Springs extension was done, The Ghan was losing money, and further extension plans were suspended indefinitely. The original route followed the overland telegraph line, believed to be the path John McDouall Stuart took during his 1862 crossing of Australia.

The Ghan was notorious for delays from track washouts. A flatcar behind the locomotive carried spare sleepers and tools so passengers and crew could repair the line. The unreliable service was tolerated because steam locomotives needed large amounts of water, and Stuart’s route to Alice Springs was the only one with enough water. Initially running fortnightly, the service increased to weekly in the 1930s. From 1956 to 1975, it ran twice weekly, then reverted to weekly. During World War II, the service expanded greatly, straining water supplies. De-mineralisation towers, some still standing, were built along the track to allow use of bore water. When a new line to Alice Springs was built in the 1970s, diesel locomotives reduced the need for water, allowing a drier route from Tarcoola to Alice Springs. The last narrow-gauge service left Alice Springs on 26 November 1980.

In October 1980, a new standard-gauge line from Tarcoola on the Trans-Australian Railway to Alice Springs opened, giving the train its current form. This line lies about 160 kilometres west of the old one, avoiding floodplains where the original track often washed out. It was also hoped the new line would improve timekeeping. The first Ghan on the new line departed Adelaide on 11 December 1980. It initially ran as a broad-gauge service to Port Pirie. After the Adelaide-to-Crystal Brook line was converted to standard gauge in 1982, it became a standard-gauge train throughout.