Indian Pacific
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The Indian Pacific is a passenger rail service running between Perth and Sydney, Australia. It was started in 1970 after the railway line between Sydney and Perth had all been converted to standard gauge.
The route leaves Perth and travels east to Kalgoorlie. This section had originally been built as narrow gauge, and even when it was converted to standard gauge in 1968, there was a change of locomotives and train crew at Kalgoorlie from Westrail crew to Australian National Railways.
From there it continues east across the Nullarbor Plain on the Trans-Australian Railway to Port Augusta. This railway was built as standard gauge, completed in 1917 as part of the promises made to Western Australia on federation in 1901. The section includes the longest straight stretch of railway track in the world (479 km) around Cook. When it was built, there was a break-of-gauge at both ends.
The train continues south to Port Pirie, then inland to Crystal Brook, and south to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It returns along the same track to Crystal Brook, then turns east again towards Broken Hill, passing through the historic triple-gauge railway towns of Gladstone and Peterborough. Port Pirie to Broken Hill was rebuilt to standard gauge in 1970 (the previous version was narrow gauge), and the Crystal Brook to Adelaide section was built in 1982. Prior to that, the Indian Pacific did not go down to Adelaide, passengers transfered at Port Pirie from a broad gauge train between Adelaide and Port Pirie.
From Broken Hill, the train continues across New South Wales to Parkes, then climbs over the Blue Mountains and into Sydney.
External links
- Great Southern Railways (http://www.gsr.com.au/indian/)
- WA Railfans (http://wagr.railfan.net/)
- Trans Australian/Indian Pacific railway ephemera (http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-vn1072309) - collected and digitised by the National Library of AustraliaTemplate:Rail-stub