The Ghan is an Australian long-distance passenger train linking Adelaide and Darwin through the center of the continent.
Its name derives from the Afghan cameleers who provided crucial transport across inland Australia before modern roads and railways reached many remote regions.
Earlier railway services toward Alice Springs used narrow-gauge lines that followed difficult routes vulnerable to washouts and operational disruption.
The old Central Australia Railway did not originally connect Adelaide directly to Darwin.
A new standard-gauge route to Alice Springs opened in 1980, substantially improving reliability and changing the train’s operating geography.
The line was extended north from Alice Springs to Darwin and opened in 2004.
The modern Ghan is operated as a long-distance experiential passenger service rather than a high-frequency intercity train.
Its consist can include sleeping, dining, lounge, and service cars and is often very long by passenger-train standards.
The train’s marketing emphasizes the transcontinental journey and outback scenery, but the route is also the product of more than a century of railway-building decisions.
For TransitSatellite, the page should distinguish the historic narrow-gauge “Ghan” tradition from the modern standard-gauge Adelaide–Darwin service.