One hundred metres of the track north of Alice Springs was washed away in heavy rain last week.

Ghan passengers had to catch a bus or a plane between Alice Springs and Darwin and freight was taken by road.

Freightlink CEO John Fullerton said the track should be fixed by lunchtime.

“All the heavy equipment was on site last Thursday and the first work involved rebuilding the formation of the railway over about 100 metres of track that was completed over the weekend,” Mr Fullerton said.

“Since then they’ve been reassembling the sleepers and putting ballast down to allow trains to operate.”

The 115 kilometre per hour speed limit will be reduced to 60 kilometres per hour on that part of the track until further work is done.

“The track is obviously safe.”

“Once it’s completed it’s safe for all trains but there will be a slight speed restriction on the track over that area until we can come back during the dry season and do some more tamping work that needs to be done,” he said.

ABC News

The travellers told the Northern Territory News how they were surrounded by “incredible amounts of water” when the train came to a sudden stop about 230km north of Alice Springs early on Thursday.

They said the train driver and personnel had done an excellent job in avoiding a potential catastrophe.

“I think the driver should be commended,” Laurie Kissick, 66, of Mildura in Victoria said. “He saw the water, if he didn’t stop I don’t know what would have happened.”

Up to 177 passengers were aboard The Ghan as it made its 2979km journey from Darwin to Adelaide.

The trip was cut short when about 100m of the track was covered in gushing water.

Great Southern Rail commercial director Russell Westmoreland said the train was travelling at a slow speed and managed to stop about 200m before the flooded section.

He said 95 passengers who returned to Darwin with the train about 9am yesterday were put up in hotels or flown to their original destinations.

The remaining passengers were taken to Alice Springs from Tennant Creek by bus.

“It’s a fairly sizeable bill (for Great Southern Rail) but certainly financially we have the capability to handle it,” Mr Westmoreland said.

Most passengers were in good spirits despite the disruption.

Row Booker, 29, was on her way to start a new life in Melbourne after having worked in Darwin for about 18 months.

The journalist yesterday left Darwin by plane.

“We just thought the Ghan could be a brilliant way to leave Darwin,” she said.

Visitor Peter Junck, 50, of Albury in New South Wales, said many passengers saw the trip as an adventure.

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The Ghan passenger train was forced to turn back to Darwin yesterday as a result of the damage.

A spokesman for the Ghan’s operator Freightlink, Tony Aldridge, says 15 wagons full of ballast rock will be taken to the affected area, which is 230 kilometres north of Alice Springs.

“We may not need that many. There’s only just over 100 metres of track involved here, but we’re deploying as many assets as we can get our hands on,” he said.

“At the same time, we’re also mobilising plant front-end loaders and things such as that, so they can get to the site and be ready once we get some dry ground to operate on.”

The train arrived in Darwin this morning and Great Southern Rail says 95 passengers have disembarked.

Some will be put on flights to their various destinations, while others say they will wait in Darwin until the track has cleared.

Most of the passengers were taking the situation in their stride.

“That was a bit disappointing, but when there’s no rail line you’re not going anywhere,” one passenger said.

“You just have to go backwards and everyone was really good about it.”

One younger passenger was a little less understanding.

“I am a bit annoyed because I didn’t get to see Ayers Rock. We had to play boardgames and just try to relax.”

ABC News

The Ghan, travelling from Darwin to Adelaide, was 230 kilometres north of Alice Springs when it came across a flooded section of track.

Great Southern Rail’s commercial director Russell Westmoreland says the decision to turn back the train was unavoidable.

“We can’t control the weather, so our role is to do the best we can to get people back on track after that,” he said.

The company says 208 guests are affected.

Freightlink owns the line and spokesman Tony Aldridge says it is too wet to start repairs.

“There’s still significant surface water residing in the area at this point in time and it’s going to take a couple of days for the area to dry out sufficiently,” he said.

The Ghan and its passengers are due to arrive back in Darwin tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile heavy rain around Alice Springs has also caused the partial closure of the Stuart Highway.

The Department of Infrastructure says flooding 50 kilometres north of Alice Springs has made the road impassable to all but high-clearance four-wheel drives.

ABC News

The flooding occured approximately 54 kilometres from the town of Yunta, washing away several sections of track and leaving trains stranded either side.

The Sydney-bound Indian Pacific service from Adelaide was terminated at Yunta where passengers boarded buses believed to be bound for Broken Hill. According to the Great Southern Rail information line, the empty train is due to arrive back in Adelaide at 6:30am this morning.

Freight operator Pacific National has cancelled several services while others left stranded in South Australia are expected to be diverted via Adelaide and Melbourne. SCT Logistics has reportedly cancelled one of their Parkes – Perth services.

It is not known at this stage how long it will take to restore the line.

RailSA