rail?????"

[JoondalupJ]

any one know if there are any rail services to Melbourne from Perth, at all. I saw one with the Indian Pacific but it stops in Adelaide for three days. Is the rail trip a dead thing these days.

 

[Ghostwriter]

Caught the train from Seattle to LA last month, cost $189, one of the great train journeys in the US, wrote a blog which is on the Amtrak facebook page.

 

[WCErevival]

I think you have no choice but to stop in Adelaide on the way but think you can just do an overnight stay not 3 days. Sydney has a direct link.

 

[Password is Taco]

Caught the train from Seattle to LA last month, cost $189, one of the great train journeys in the US, wrote a blog which is on the Amtrak facebook page.

With food poisoning? Or maybe I read another blog.

 

[Ghostwriter]

With food poisoning? Or maybe I read another blog.

No, no food poisoning.

 

[West Coast Weasel]

any one know if there are any rail services to Melbourne from Perth, at all. I saw one with the Indian Pacific but it stops in Adelaide for three days. Is the rail trip a dead thing these days.

Its more of an indulgent thing, bit like travelling via cruise liner.

I've always wanted to ride the Indian Pacific but being a former Perth boy, I can barely tolerate the 4 hours by plane, let alone the 3 days it'd take you cross the country so it probably won't ever happen for me

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

any one know if there are any rail services to Melbourne from Perth, at all. I saw one with the Indian Pacific but it stops in Adelaide for three days. Is the rail trip a dead thing these days.

Australia doesn't really do long distance rail, even Sydney-Melbourne isn't worth it. I think the Indian-Pacific is the only rail option between Perth and the east.

 

[brucetiki]

any one know if there are any rail services to Melbourne from Perth, at all. I saw one with the Indian Pacific but it stops in Adelaide for three days. Is the rail trip a dead thing these days.

The Indian Pacific stops in Adelaide for a few hours, not 3 days.

If you wanted to travel by train from Melbourne to Perth you'd have to train it either to Sydney or Adelaide and then hop on the Indian-Pacific from there.

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

The Indian Pacific stops in Adelaide for a few hours, not 3 days.

If you wanted to travel by train from Melbourne to Perth you'd have to train it either to Sydney or Adelaide and then hop on the Indian-Pacific from there.

The Indian Pacific doesn't match up with the Overland. There would have to be a few days stay in Adelaide. At least the train to Sydney (the XPT) runs twice a day every day of the week.

 

[brucetiki]

The Indian Pacific doesn't match up with the Overland. There would have to be a few days stay in Adelaide. At least the train to Sydney (the XPT) runs twice a day every day of the week.

I thought he meant the Indian Pacific stopped in Adelaide for a few days.

I also thought you could get away with overnight in Adelaide, but didn't realise GSR cut out the midweek Overland services.

 

[FreoGirl]

Caught the train from Seattle to LA last month, cost $189, one of the great train journeys in the US, wrote a blog which is on the Amtrak facebook page.

I've done the Californian Zephr from Chicago to Reno - took us 3 days, we were delayed by snow, animals on the track and a medical emergency - was an awesome trip!!

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

I thought he meant the Indian Pacific stopped in Adelaide for a few days.

I also thought you could get away with overnight in Adelaide, but didn't realise GSR cut out the midweek Overland services.

They cut it August last year. The Overland in general is on it's last leg. The only reason it runs is because the government pays to run part of it. If the Government didn't it would of been gone ages ago.

 

[brucetiki]

They cut it August last year. The Overland in general is on it's last leg. The only reason it runs is because the government pays to run part of it. If the Government didn't it would of been gone ages ago.

True - you can fly to Melbourne on the budget carriers for a similar cost of most of the seats on the Overland, and it doesn't have the tourist element of the Indian Pacific or The Ghan.

 

[MrKK]

True - you can fly to Melbourne on the budget carriers for a similar cost of most of the seats on the Overland, and it doesn't have the tourist element of the Indian Pacific or The Ghan.

I think it's an awkward distance too when you consider train vs car vs plane
For short distances train >= plane as they have similar costs and take about the same time because you have to check-in earlier for a plane and then travel from airport to CBD at the other end.
For long distances train can be > plane if you like train travel and consider the journey as a key part of the trip.
Anything in between these and car or plane is going to be >>>> train.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I did the Melbourne to Perth by train in the late 80s. I left Melbourne on the Overlander at about 8:30pm on the Sunday night, I arrived at about 7:30 the following morning in Adelaide and then had 9 hours before the Indian Pacific left for Perth.

The Overlander was as dull as. The Indian Pacific was the best fun I've ever had travelling. I was in sit up and it was full of backpackers smoking, playing music and telling stores.

I only learnt the other week too that buses don't do the Nullabor anymore.

With the price and convenience of airfares these days only wealthy retirees do the train these days.

 

[bradrowe#32]

I only learnt the other week too that buses don't do the Nullabor anymore.

That would be the worst trip ever. I did Melbourne to Canberra on the bus once and that was awful. Left at 11pm (I think) and got in at 7am. Truly shocking. Doing the Nullarbor by bus would be bloody expensive too.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

That would be the worst trip ever. I did Melbourne to Canberra on the bus once and that was awful. Left at 11pm (I think) and got in at 7am. Truly shocking. Doing the Nullarbor by bus would be bloody expensive too.

During the pilot's strike in '89 there were at least a couple of foreign tourists who got off the bus in the middle of nowhere on the Nullabor when the bus had stopped and took off into the scrub. They died.

 

[stmookeyj]

That would be the worst trip ever. I did Melbourne to Canberra on the bus once and that was awful. Left at 11pm (I think) and got in at 7am. Truly shocking. Doing the Nullarbor by bus would be bloody expensive too.

I did Brisbane-Melbourne once in 2001, hardest bit was sitting next to an obnoxious little turd from Gatton to Shepparton. Wouldn't shut up from Gatton to Goondawindi. Thankfully the route is no longer served directly, left at 4PM on a Sunday Afternoon arriving in Melbourne just after 3PM on the Monday, stopping at Toowoomba (toilet break really), Goondiwindi, Coonabarabran, Forbes and Finley. It's hard enough doing a bus from here to Brisbane with 2 meal stops on the main overnight bus (Gin Gin, Kybong) and 2 others on the bus departing in the middle of the early morning (Apple Tree Creek, Kybong).


As for Rail, the Tilt Train is about as far as I'd consider doing a rail trip in Queensland, although some nights I've taken the overnight Spirit of the Outback to Brisbane to make a mid morning flight for the footy.