The complete guide to Australia by rail

AUSTRALIA IS MOSTLY DESERT - THERE CAN'T BE MANY RAILWAYS, SURELY?

AUSTRALIA IS MOSTLY DESERT - THERE CAN'T BE MANY RAILWAYS, SURELY?

More than you might think: there are about 40,000 kilometres of track, though many of them carry only freight. Reflecting the distribution of population, most lines are in the east and south-east, with a small network in the south-west around Perth. But within months, the final mainland capital will be connected to the network, when the line is completed through the Northern Territory from Alice Springs to Darwin.

The 1,420km of new track comprise the world's longest railway project for many a decade. The new line will allow The Ghan to span Australia from south coast to north. This train takes its name from the abbreviation which was once used to describe the camel trains that were once the main means of transport through the Northern Territory; the camels came from Afghanistan.

The Ghan's southern terminus is Adelaide, with connections from Sydney and Melbourne. From February 2004, The Ghan will run weekly to Darwin and twice-weekly to Alice Springs. The 2,979km journey will take 47 hours with an optional tour of Alice Springs Desert Park and a boat cruise through Katherine Gorge while the train waits for you.

THAT'S THE NEWEST LINE - BUT WHAT'S THE OLDEST?

True to stereotype, Australia's first passenger railway relied on convict propulsion: from 1833 they pushed passenger-carrying trucks over wooden rails laid across the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania to enable sea travellers to avoid the rough voyage across Storm Bay and around Tasman Island to Port Arthur. Subsequent railway construction during the 19th century was more orthodox, the first steam-operated railway opening between Melbourne and Sandridge in 1854.

However, the uncoordinated use of three different track gauges has bedevilled through journeys: even the journey between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, entailed a change until 1962.

WHY TAKE THE TRAIN WHEN I CAN FLY OR DRIVE?

Although the cost of flying around Australia has fallen sharply, air travel denies you any appreciation of the ground you're covering and limits the people you meet.

Away from the most scenic areas, driving can become monotonous; how much better to be able to read or learn something of the country around a bar on the train?

EVOEEUR ON TWHY TAKE THE TRAIN EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR?

Don't expect European-style regular-interval expresses outside the cities: just two trains a day ply between Sydney and Brisbane, for example. Many rural lines have been replaced by bus services. But providing you have a relaxed schedule and are not heading for a remote sheep station, a combination of train and connecting coach will take you to most places.

State government-sponsored railways operate most trains within states (eg Queensland Rail and New South Wales's Countrylink), while inter-state trains are generally provided by the Great Southern Railway (00 61 8 8213 4592, www.gsr.com.au).

Most services are marketed by Rail Australia (0870 120 1606, www.railaustralia.com). This organisation sells a couple of attractive unlimited-travel passes. The best bargain of all is the Great Southern Railway pass, which costs £281 (£215 for students and children) for six months of unlimited travel.

CAN I CROSS THE COUNTRY FROM EAST TO WEST?

Yes. In 1970, the gauge on the line across the continent was standardised. Since then, The Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth has become one of the world's best-known train journeys. The 4,352km journey takes 64 hours, and passes over the longest stretch of straight track in the world: 478 kilometres across the Nullarbor Plain. Excursions can be booked at Broken Hill (see page 7 of this section), Adelaide, Cook (all that's left of this small desert community is a population of two) and the gold town of Kalgoorlie.

In the south of the country, The Overland plies four times a week between Adelaide and Melbourne. A motorail service is also available on the The Overland as well as The Indian Pacific and The Ghan.

I'M ONLY GOING TO THE EAST COAST

No worries. Most of Australia's railways are located in the three eastern states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Countrylink's train and coach network serves 334 destinations. The organisation (00 61 2 9379 1264; www.countrylink.nsw.gov.au) offers a useful one-month Discovery Pass covering train and state-rail- operated buses.

In Queensland, the twice-weekly Spirit Of The Outback takes 24 hours to cover the 1,325km from Brisbane to the centre of this vast state at Longreach. Here, you can visit the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, with roof shapes as bizarre as Sydney's Opera House, and the preserved hangar that was the early base of Australia's airline Qantas.

To travel parallel to the Great Barrier Reef, you could take the thrice-weekly Sunlander or the more luxurious weekly Queenslander between Brisbane and Cairns.

CAN I STRETCH OUT FOR THE LONG HAUL?

Of the named trains north of Brisbane, only the Queenslander has "roomettes" with en- suite toilet; showers are at the end of each sleeper. Brisbane-Cairns "tilt trains" do not have sleeping accommodation.

The Indian Pacific, The Ghan and The Overland have Gold and Red Kangaroo levels of accommodation, corresponding to first and second classes. The former have en-suite showers and toilet, the latter washing facilities only. Other overnight first-class sleepers serving Sydney have a toilet and shower between each compartment.

ANY FAST JOURNEYS?

There are no high-speed trains like the TGV or ICE, but for 21 years a clone of the British high-speed train has operated longer-distance services out of Sydney. Brisbane, for example, can be reached in under 15 hours at an average speed of 68km/h (compared with the 200km/h top speed in Britain).

North of Brisbane, Queensland Railways boast the country's fastest services: this year, 160km/h tilting trains from Brisbane were extended from Rockhampton to Cairns. If the scenery palls, as it surely will on the long haul north, the seat-back video screens offer five channels.

WHAT WILL I EAT?

That depends. On the best trains such as The Ghan, The Indian Pacific and The Overland you can look forward to dishes such as beef fillet Nantawarra served with Warrigal spinach pesto and Bush tomato salsa or Snapper with Pernod and fennel cream sauce, complemented by indigenous beers and wines. On others, you can find out where the British Rail sandwich, circa 1970, ended up.

HOW ABOUT GETTING AROUND THE CITIES?

Sydney and Melbourne have busy commuter networks, with new lines built recently in Sydney. Melbourne also has extensive tram and light rail lines.

ANY LINES AS IDIOSYNCRATIC AS A KANGAROO?

No contest here. Once a week The Gulflander motorail service operates between the grandiloquent station at Normanton and the former gold-rush town of Croydon over a 152km line isolated from the rest of Queensland Railways. Determination is required to ride The Gulflander: even to reach the starting point at Normanton from Cairns takes 10 hours by coach.

Once on board, the antiquated railcar pootles past waterholes where crocodiles lurk beneath lotus flowers. The driver is usually happy to stop if anyone sees something interesting. No one on the train counts on the four-hour schedule to make a business meeting. You have to stay a night in Croydon before taking the train back to Normanton the next day. Guests once had a choice of 36 hotels but now there's just the Club Hotel, where anyone with boarding-school memories will feel entirely at home.

WHAT ABOUT A WHIFF OF STEAM?

There are many tourist railways, some using steam, though sky-rocketing insurance premiums have curtailed a few smaller operations.

One of the best known is the Puffing Billy Railway in Victoria which runs through the Dandenong Ranges from Belgrave (suburban trains from Melbourne) to Gembrook (00 61 3 9754 6800; www.puffingbilly.com.au). Reopened in 1962, this 24km narrow-gauge line also operates lunch, afternoon tea and dinner specials.

In South Australia, the 33km narrow-gauge Pichi Richi Railway runs through spectacular scenery on a section of former main line between Quorn and Stirling North (00 61 8 8395 2566; www.prr.org.au).

In Queensland, the 34km Cairns-Kuranda Steam Railway operates an imported locomotive past the spray of Barron Falls to a station in the rainforest that has become an attraction in is own right: thanks to a green-fingered early employee, the building's walls are barely visible for forest flowers, ferns and trees (00 61 7 3235 1122; www.traveltrain.qr.com.au).

And there are longer steam journeys like those run by Railcruising Australia (00 61 2 9693 2233; www.aircruising.com.au) which operates luxury eight-day tours through such New South Wales highlights as the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley as well as "bush towns". A steam locomotive heads the train for the first day, but subsequent haulage is diesel. Periodic main line steam excursions are operated.

ANY ENGINEERING GEMS ON THE LINE?

The Sydney Harbour bridge - the coat-hanger to locals - is as famous a landmark as the Opera House and is the largest steel arch span in the world, carrying two lines of railway as well as eight lanes of road.

One of Australia's most remarkable sections of railway - the Lithgow Zigzag in the world heritage site area of the Blue Mountains - has been reopened with steam locomotives. This allows passengers to see the series of viaducts and earthworks built in the 1860s to heave the Sydney-Bourke line over the mountains (00 61 2 6353 1795; www.zigzagrailway.com.au).

WHAT ABOUT THE STATIONS?

Perhaps the grandest station in the country is Flinders Street station in Melbourne; its corner street façade resembles that of Waterloo in London.

Many stations have become modest museums or been converted into hotels and bars. A notable example is Almaden, junction for the Forsayth branch in Queensland, where the station bar remains a focal point of the tiny community.

Werris Creek on the Brisbane-Dubbo line in New South Wales was once a major railway town, and its 125th anniversary last year was marked by the launch of the Australian Railway Monument Project to restore the grand station buildings and refreshment rooms and create displays about the contribution of railways to Australia.

ANYTHING IN TASMANIA?

Yes, but only tourist railways. The West Coast Wilderness Railway between Queenstown and Strahan Bay has a steam-worked rack section in the middle. The full round-trip takes about eight hours, including candlelit exploration of a mine (www.federalresorts.com.au).

Occasional wine trains are run along the Don River Railway from Inveresk to Lalla, which include a barbecue and wine tasting; more information from 00 61 3 6230 8235 (the Tasmania Visitor Information Network) or www.donriverrailway.com.au.

I'D LIKE SOME GLAMOUR

Hire the finest historical carriage in the country and attach it to The Ghan, The Indian Pacific or The Overland. The wooden-bodied Prince of Wales Carriage was built in 1919 for the visit of the future Edward VIII, and has been used subsequently by governors-general and prime ministers. It accommodates 10 people. The Chairman's Carriage (sleeps eight) and the Sir John Forrest Carriage (sleeps six) offer equal luxury (00 61 8 8213 4535; www.trainways.com.au).

ANYTHING ELSE ON THE HORIZON?

A new tourist hotel train, the Ozback Explorer, is being developed by the promoter of South Africa's Shongololo Express, George Milaras (00 61 2 9498 3124; www.ozbackexplorer.com). Carriages are being refurbished for the start of 19-day rail cruises from Sydney to outback centres and Darwin from April 2004. By sleeping on the train and travelling overnight, the 90 or so paying guests will "save" six days on the same itinerary by other means of transport.

WHO CAN HELP ME WITH ARRANGEMENTS?

The UK agent for rail tickets in Australia is International Rail (0870 120 1606, www.international-rail.com). The Australian Tourist Commission can offer plenty of information on and off the rails; call 0191 501 4646 to order the free travellers' guide, or visit www.australia.com.

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