Australia is an amazing travel destination offering a great diversity of nature as well as bustling cities and remote rural areas. Australia is also an interesting destination for train enthusiasts. The Ghan, a transcontinental railway crossing Australia from the South to the North, is today Australia’s most famous railway. It starts in Adelaide at the southern coast and rolls North through the almost empty and desert outback around Alice Springs to the tropical Northern coast at Darwin. The total distance crossed is about 3000 kilometres (or almost 2000 miles) with a travel time of about 50 hours involving two nights aboard the train. Riding the Ghan let you experience quintessential Australian landscapes. The train trip starts in the fertile and green countryside around Adelaide and goes trough the rusty plains of Australia’s Red Centre and eventually stops in midst of the tropical area of Australia’s North (or what is called Top End by the Aussies themselves).
Ghan Train, Australia, Photo by Goetz Ruhland, credits see below
Originally this railway was called Afghan named after the camel caravans used traditionally for transportation in the vast interior desert areas of Australia. To honour and remember this history, a camel with a rider is still the official trademark of the Ghan train. The Ghan is a unique train trip experience. It crosses not only an entire continent but going strictly along a South-North line it crosses several climate zones from the temperate South to the tropical North of Australia. During high season the Ghan travels twice a week, out of season once a week. There are longer halts (around four hours) in Alice Springs and in Katherine. These halts allow optional tours, for example the famous Katherine gorge in the Nitmiluk National Park (not included in the train ticket, the prize of the Katherine gorge cruise is about 80 Australian dollars).
The construction of the Ghan railway line started as early as 1878 and reached Alice Springs in 1929. Eventually further construction was put on hold due to financial problems. This old Ghan railway was using narrow gauge track The history of the old Ghan is featured in the Old Ghan Heritage Railway museum in Alice Spring.
Ghan Train arriving in Darwin, Australia, Photo by TourismNT, credits see below
In 2001 the construction of the Alice Springs – Darwin connection started and was finished in 2003. The very first train of the Ghan arrived Darwin at February 4, 2004. Immediately the Ghan train trip attracted tourists and train enthusiasts from around the whole world and has contributed significantly to the development of the tourism in the Northern Territory. The modern Ghan is using normal gauge tracks and is operated with Diesel locomotives (always two locomotives per train to have redundancy available if one locomotive has engine failure or technical breakdown).
There are different service levels to book the Ghan: Platinum, Gold and Red (plus private carriages as a further option). Platinum and Gold level passengers get served three meals a day in the restaurant car (Queen Adelaide Restaurant) while Red level passengers have to bring their own or can buy meals in the snack bar (Red Service Diner).
Of course, the biggest difference in comfort level is concerning the private rooms. Gold comes with a small private room with toilet and shower and bunk beds sleeping two whereas Platinum offers quite a comfortable room with a double bed plus small private bath room. Red level passengers have to use a quite tiny sleeping alcove or alternatively a reclining daynighter seat. In addition there are some on board luggage constraints for Red service passengers. Due to these differences in comfort the prices vary considerable between these levels of service. The cheapest option is the Red level daynighter with about 700 Australian dollars, Platinum is the highest rate which costs almost 3000 Australian dollars.
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