Up until the first part of the 20th century, communications across the Australian continent were relatively undeveloped. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, remained isolated from Australia’s eastern states until the Trans-Australian Railway (TAR) was built across the arid area known as the Nullarbor (“No Trees”) Plain. During the 19th century, the only form of transport between the west coast and the eastern cities was a long and often rough sea voyage across the Great Australian Bight, while the first east–west crossing of the Nullarbor Plain on foot was achieved by the English explorer Edward Eyre and his Indigenous Australian guide, Wylie, in 1841. In 1877, a telegraph line was built across the plain, and it was this man-made structure that a mining engineer called Arthur Richardson followed when he set out in 1896 to become the first person to ride a bicycle around the Australian continent.

The first railway in Western Australia had opened in 1871, and by 1896 there was a 313-mile line going eastwards through the inhospitable landscape as far as Kalgoorlie. This line was built alongside a pipeline carrying drinking water to the arid goldfields around Kalgoorlie. Meanwhile, in the south-east of the continent, a railway line from Port Augusta to Oodnadatta had opened in 1891. These early railways in both the east and the west were built to the narrow gauge of 3 ft 6 in.

In 1901, the self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia got together to form a federation. One of the incentives held out to Western Australia to become a member had been the promise of a transcontinental railway linking Perth with the eastern cities. A survey of the route across the featureless Nullarbor Plain was completed in 1909, and construction started to join the two existing railways at each end in 1912. Despite the onset of the First World War, work progressed until the two lines finally converged at a site in an area of desert in 1917. The railway’s claim to fame is that its route includes the longest stretch—297 miles—of straight track in the world. Although the existing railways at each end had been built to the narrow gauge, the new 1,052-mile stretch was built to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8½ in. These two breaks of gauge meant that a true transcontinental service did not exist until 1970.

Water supplies for steam engines on the TAR route were non-existent, as the railway did not cross a permanent watercourse along its entire length. To overcome this, the TAR line’s original chief engineer had requested diesel engines, but his request was not granted, so steam haulage had to be supported by extra water tankers carried on each train. Australian-built diesel-electric engines eventually replaced steam haulage in 1951.

As well as being an important freight route, the new line saw the introduction of the Trans-Australian Express, a service which commenced running in 1917 to serve isolated communities and settlements along its route. For much of its long-running life, this twice-weekly train consisted solely of sleeping cars; seated accommodation was included only from 1981 until the service terminated ten years later. The route of the train was extended following the conversion to standard gauge of its narrow-gauge sections in 1970, but, facing increased competition from air travel, it last ran in June 1991.

One long-lived curiosity of the trans-Australian network was the Tea and Sugar Train, which also started running in 1917. The train brought communities along the route not only the necessities of everyday life but also a butcher’s shop, medical facilities and a cinema. It last ran in 1996.

Despite the withdrawal of the Trans-Australian Express between Adelaide and Perth in 1991, the Indian Pacific service has operated between Sydney on the east coast and Perth since 1970, following the complete conversion of the TAR route to standard gauge. This service is operated by Great Southern Rail. It runs twice a week between Adelaide and Perth, and once a week between Sydney and Perth. The journey time for the complete 2,704-mile journey is approximately 66½ hours westbound and 71¼ hours eastbound.

The Indian Pacific service calls at the isolated outback railway settlements of Pimba, which has a population of around fifty; Kingoonya, which has only a hotel; and Tarcoola, which has a population of around forty and is a junction for the south–north line to Darwin. It then travels to Cook, which, despite having a population of fewer than ten, is a scheduled stop. The train subsequently crosses the Nullarbor Plain in a dead-straight line for 297 miles to Loongana, an uninhabited request stop, before continuing to Rawlinna, another request stop serving Australia’s largest sheep station. Civilisation is eventually reached at Kalgoorlie before the last leg of the journey westwards to East Perth Station. The train has carriages with seating, sleeping cars, a restaurant car and wagons conveying passengers’ motor cars.