The Ghan

The Ghan is a long-distance train in Australia, which is running on the Central Australian Railway ( central Australian railway) and connects Adelaide via Alice Springs with Darwin. The path is one with a length of 2,979 kilometers, now the longest in the world. From Adelaide to Darwin the train crosses four climatic zones and 22.5 degrees of latitude. In times of old Cape gauge track, in a gaping gap of several hundred kilometers, he only drove from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Only since 2004, when the new line was completed to standard gauge, he crosses the continent from coast to coast.

  • 6.1 locomotives
  • 6.2 car

Name

The name comes from The Ghan The Afghan Express, a throwback to the " Afghan " leaders of the camel caravans that ensured the transport of goods in the interior of Australia before the advent of motorization. This, however, coming not only from Afghanistan, but among other things, from parts of the former British India. For this purpose, as the train got its name, there are many stories, but none are guaranteed.

History

The development of the Australian interior was a target of the colonies South Australia and Victoria at the end of the 19th century. First attempts to arise in connection with the construction of the Trans- Australian telegraph line at the beginning of the 1870s. From 1878, a railroad of the South Australian Railways was from Port Augusta from ahead in Cape gauge, then already with the ultimate Darwin ( until 1911: Palmerston ). For further details see: Great Northern Railway. The route led first to Marree (then Hergott Springs ), was then to Oodnadatta (originally: Angle Pole) extended and finally reached Alice Springs in 1929 (then Stuart ).

Narrow gauge operation

The train

Freight trains with passengers were the norm for passenger transport on the route, so-called Mixed that stopped at each station. These were ridiculed as Oodna Bumber. Supposedly the train stopped even after rainfall on the free section, so passengers could then flourishing in the wilderness picking flowers .. When driving from Adelaide to Oodnadatta the ride closed runs regularly between hotel accommodation in Quorn or Port Augusta and Marree one. So you took three days and the connection was offered every 14 days.

From 1923 accounted for the overnight breaks for the "mixed ". He then drove without the interruption in Marree from Port Augusta to Oodnadatta through. At the same time the first time a sleeping car was offered. This innovation reduced the travel time between Adelaide and Oodnadatta one day. With it, the name came from: The Ghan. For the first time reached The Ghan Alice Springs on August 6, 1929., The train reversed in Central Australia since taking the route through the Commonwealth Railways between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. Travelers to and from Adelaide was offered in Quorn a connecting train to the South Australian Railways. At that time the cost of first class travel from Alice Springs to Adelaide 12 Australian pounds. As planned, the train left Alice Springs for lunch at 13:30, Quorn reached two days later by 4 clock in the morning, there waited a connecting train that brought the travelers to Adelaide, which was reached just 20 Next clock.

The train reversed before the Second World War once a week usually at intervals of 14 days, in the final stages of the route in the 1970s. He left Alice Springs runs regularly on Wednesdays by 20 clock, reached Marree Fridays at 5:15 clock. There, the standard gauge connecting train was waiting ( since 1957 had been umgespurt the route between Maree and Port Augusta on standard gauge ), the Port Pirie reached at 16:50 clock. There, the passengers had to go on the broad gauge. Adelaide was reached at 21:20. But Significant delays in relation to the timetable were not rare.

When it was completed in 1980, the central Australian Railway to Alice Springs - it branches off in Tarcoola of the Trans- Australian Railway from - the Great Northern Railway was abandoned and north of Marree The Ghan out as Normalspurzug on the new route.

The German train set

When the railroad Transaustralische 1970 could be driven between Perth and Sydney, the vehicles used until then in Trans - Australian were replaced with more modern stainless steel umgespurt on Cape gauge and now came as The Ghan between Marree and Alice Springs are used.

These cars were built 1951/52, by a consortium led by the company Wegmann & Co.. It was the first contract for the construction of passenger coaches, which was awarded to Australia from Germany. The trains were manufactured in Kassel. They originally consisted of nine cars that were similar to the VT 08 and VT 12 is provided as the units with transitions. Specifically, consisted of a set:

  • A service car is also the stuff, generator and personnel sleeper,
  • Three sleeping cars second car class, of which about one third are society compartment,
  • A dining car with 48 seats and the kitchen,
  • A saloon car first class with women, music and smoking lounge. In the music room there was a piano out of a radio receiver, music locker, record player and tape recorder. On the walls there were wood inlays, which also showed the Hercules and the water games in Kassel- Wilhelm height among others.
  • Three sleeper first class (two- bed compartments ), the final at the same time as the pulpit cart with a view room end of the car.

The train was fully air-conditioned and offered a total of 52 beds first and 88 second class. During the mission as The Ghan, the sets were run in a slightly different composition. So 1979 was the pulpit cars no longer in use.

Museum

After the narrow gauge version of The Ghan was set in 1980, reached a part of the train in the custody of the Railway Museum Old Ghan Heritage Railway.

Standard gauge

After 1980, the central Australian Railway was completed to Alice Springs, The Ghan was operated as Normalspurzug about the new route and took on its current appearance. 2001 began the continued construction of the route from Alice Springs to Darwin, which was reached in 2003. Since February 2, 2004 The Ghan runs from Adelaide to Darwin, the first train reached Darwin on February 4, after which had been sought for over a hundred years. The possibility of using the train to go to Darwin from South Australia from, is considered an important contribution to the development of tourism in the Northern Territory.

Operation

Operator of the train were initially the Commonwealth Railways. After these had risen in 1974 in the Australian National, were these operators. As other famous interstate long-distance trains in Australia ( Indian Pacific, The Overland ) also - - After their dissolution The Ghan was taken over by the Great Southern Railway. The train is now largely a hotel train. Local traffic will take place any more.

The train runs in the main tourist season twice a week, in the rest of the time once a week. The new timetable will be - depending on the load of the train - announced annually. The journey takes 47-49 hours. In Alice Springs and Katherine in the train stops every four hours. The traveler there are short trips - in the Katherine Gorge offered, for example, which are not included in the fare.

Rolling stock

Locomotives

The Transaustralische railway is operated by Freight Link. It crosses the Australian continent lane from north to south and is not electrified. The Ghan is therefore pulled by two diesel locomotives, which are provided by the railway company Pacific National. The second is not needed because of the traction force, but carried along as "fear locomotive " if the first locomotive is unable to operate. It would take too long for the long distances to fetch a Ersatzlok cause.

Car

The train is 403 m long ( as a " double move ": 686 m) and weighs - without the locomotives - 807 tons ( as " double move ": 1,288 tonnes). The Ghan is usually formed from the following cars:

Luxury

First Class

  • 5 sleeper class " Gold Service " ( " double move ": 11). There are those with Einbettabteilen which are arranged on both sides of the aisle, and sleeper with double compartments, the transverse to the direction of a side corridor are
  • 1 dining car ( " double move ": 2 ) (the " Gold Service " includes meals )
  • 1 saloon car ( " double move ": 2 )

Second class

Service

The fares are (converted ) at about 300 euros for the class "Red Kangaroo " and at 1,000 euros for "Gold Service".

More images

Dining car, 2nd class

Sleeping car, 2nd class, aisle

The Ghan train station in Alice Springs

The Ghan train station in Alice Springs

The Ghan after arriving in Darwin

Katherine, Northern Territory Tennant Creek Marla (South Australia) Coober Pedy Tarcoola, South Australia Port Augusta, South Australia Central railway station, Sydney Reminiscence Australian feral camel British Raj Australian Overland Telegraph Line Adelaide–Darwin railway Marree, South Australia Quorn, South Australia Trans-Australian Railway Trans-Australian Passenger car (rail) Observation car Old Ghan Heritage Railway and Museum Australian National Railways Commission Great Southern Rail (Australia)
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