The train which left Perth on Wednesday and was due to arrive in Adelaide on Friday was terminated and returning to Perth, the train company said in a statement on its website.

The service scheduled to depart from Adelaide for Perth on Sunday has also been cancelled.

The cancellation also affects vehicle transport on the services.

The service departing Sydney on Saturday will terminate in Adelaide and will not continue to Perth.

Indian Pacific Adelaide to Sydney services have not been affected.

A passenger told The Advertiser the cancellations were because of flooding on the rail line near Kalgoorlie.

No one was available at Great Southern Rail.

Passengers should contact Great Southern Rail on 131 147.

via AdelaideNow

It was this train that ran Australia’s first east-west rail service on standard gauge, which departed from Sydney’s Central Station on Monday, February 23 1970 and arrived in Perth on Friday, February 27 to 10,000 people.

On the train’s 40th birthday locomotive NR21 pulled the Indian Pacific from Adelaide’s Keswick Station for Sydney.

The train comprised of 24 carriages, including one locomotive and three motorail with 164 guests and 19 crew members on board.

Great Southern Rail’s Marketing and Executive Coordinator Robyn Williamson said the company is proud to be part of the train’s history.

“It’s good to be part of the history of something historic. The Indian Pacific is such an Australian icon,” she said.

Its popularity has seen it attract tens of thousands of passengers per year.

“There are people who go on trips on the Indian Pacific every year because they love it so much,” Ms Williamson said.

The 65-hour, 4,352km trip crosses the Nullarbor, the crossroad of Australia Port Augusta, historic gold-rush town Kalgoorlie and the Blue Mountains.

At 478km, the world’s longest section of railway track in the Nullarbor Plain is part of the Indian Pacific’s journey.

The Indian Pacific today can carry up to 348 passengers with 25 carriages and get up to 686 metres long.

With a two metre wing span, the wedge-tailed eagle, Australia’s largest eagle, was chosen as the Indian Pacific’s symbol to represent the train’s “epic journey,” Great Southern Rail spokesman Russell Westmoreland said to a WA Today reporter.

East-west travel by rail started in 1917 when all track sections between colonies were completed, but non-uniform gauges between the colonies meant passengers had to change several trains along the way.

The uniform standard gauge across the continent was completed in 1969.

By Anthony Caggiano for RailSA

 
 

Featured photographs of the Indian Pacific

NR85, formerly an unnamed locomotive, has been christened ‘Southern Spirit’, its divine right in hauling the first train which is due to pick up guests in Alice Springs on Wednesday for the epic 2 week journey to Brisbane, along the way taking in sights such as South Australia’s unique Kangaroo Island, and Ned Kelly’s own bushranger territory in Victoria.

In a rare move, the transfer consist included a Pacific National FAM crew car, also given the polish treatment, as well as 5 Platinum Service BRG cars and a single Gold Service ARM car – with deluxe cabin and manager’s office on board.

On board, guests will be treated to the finest luxuries on the rails in Australia. The 5 star Platinum Service accommodation will be complimented with fine gourmet foods in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant, a luxurious lounge and bar carriage and round-the-clock room service to patrons paying up to nearly $14k for a ride on Australia’s most exclusive train. The tour is the first of its kind in Australia, boasting inclusions such as Uluru, a Coober Pedy opal experience and even breakfast in bed for passengers wishing to have a more leisurely start to the morning.

The Southern Spirit will next grace Adelaide’s tracks when it returns carrying guests bound for Kangaroo Island early Thursday morning.

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.

NT News

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