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

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