page_title: Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor
section_title: First steps towards a transcontinental railway
hierarchical_section_title: Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor / First steps towards a transcontinental railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Darwin railway station building (also known as Berrimah passenger terminal), looking east. The line on which The Ghan passenger train from Adelaide arrives and departs is immediately to the left; boarding and alighting are at ground level.
context_page_description: The Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor is a 2,975 kilometres series of south–north transcontinental railway lines in Australia, between the cities of Adelaide and Darwin. Built in stages in the twentieth century, the corridor was completed in 2004 when the Alice Springs to Darwin line opened. The corridor is used by The Ghan passenger train and freight trains operated by One Rail Australia.
context_section_description: Under the provisions of the Northern Territory Acceptance Act 1910, the Commonwealth Railways assumed responsibility for the South Australian Railways' narrow gauge lines in the far north of South Australia and the Northern Territory. The Act mandated the building of a south–north railway although, crucially, no date was specified. Two routes were considered; a standard gauge line branching off the Trans-Australian Railway at Tarcoola or a cheaper narrow gauge extension of the line from Oodnadatta that had opened in 1891. Eventually the latter was chosen with the Central Australia Railway (CAR) opening to Alice Springs in August 1929. Meanwhile, the North Australia Railway (NAR) opened in stages south from Darwin to Birdum, the latter being reached in 1929.
  In the late 1940s, the South Australian Government developed the Leigh Creek coalfields, 271 km (168 mi) north of Port Augusta,  to provide fuel for a new power station at the port. The infrastructure of the CAR was inadequate for the increased tonnages to be carried, so the federal government funded a new standard gauge line from Stirling North to the coalfields (and on to Marree to provide cattle transport). The northernmost two-thirds followed an alignment generally within 8 km (5 mi) of the narrow-gauge line but the southern third avoided the impediments of the mountainous section near Quornand Hawker. The new line covered one-third of the distance to Alice Springs, and a Commonwealth Railways booklet mentioned its "special importance to the Northern Territory as it is the first stage in the ultimate conversion of the narrow-gauge railway to Alice Springs to standard 4 ft 8½ in gauge".
  By 1967, interest in a transcontinental route had revived again. The existing route was one of three options considered, but a route far to the west, largely free of flood events, was chosen. Construction of the current 828 km (515 mi) kilometre line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs began in April 1975, opening in October 1980; the CAR closed shortly after. By then, the NAR had closed (in June 1976) following the closure of the iron ore mine at Frances Creek.
  In January 1983, the federal government announced its intention to extend the standard gauge line from Alice Springs to Darwin to complete the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. It was planned to open in 1988, Australia's bicentenary year. However, after a change of government in March 1983, the new government cancelled the project, and the project languished for a further 16 years.
caption: Darwin's railway station, known as the Berrimah passenger terminal
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