The Indian Pacific is a long-distance passenger train connecting Sydney on the Pacific coast with Perth near the Indian Ocean.
The service became possible only after Australia completed a continuous standard-gauge transcontinental route.
Before gauge standardization, passengers and freight traveling across Australia often had to change trains because state railway systems used different track gauges.
The Indian Pacific began running in 1970 after standard-gauge connections linked the eastern and western networks.
Its route crosses the Blue Mountains, inland New South Wales, South Australia, and the Nullarbor Plain.
The Nullarbor section includes one of the world’s longest straight stretches of railway track.
The service has used changing locomotives and passenger cars across different railway eras and operators.
Today it is marketed as an experiential long-distance journey rather than primarily as basic intercity transport.
The train’s name refers to the two oceans at opposite ends of the route rather than to a single historic locomotive or trainset.
For TransitSatellite, the page should emphasize gauge standardization as the enabling technology behind the through service.