Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 52, 2013

The Indian Pacific is a weekly passenger rail service running between Sydney and Perth in Australia. It is one of the few truly transcontinental trains in the world. The train first ran in February 1970 after the completion of gauge conversion projects in South and Western Australia. The route includes the world's longest straight stretch of railway track, a 478 km stretch over the Nullarbor Plain. In 1983 the service was extended to serve Adelaide. A one-way trip originally took 75 hours, but with line and efficiency improvements it now takes 65 hours. The train currently has four classes, branded as Platinum, Gold Service and Red Service Sleeper and Red Service Daynighter and also a Motorail service to convey passengers' motor vehicles. In February 1993 the train became part of Australian National and in October 1997 was sold to Great Southern Rail.