Twice each week, Great Southern Railway (Journey Beyond) operate The Ghan train from Adelaide Parklands (Keswick) terminal to Alice Springs. The train departs late in the afternoon, travels overnight and arrives in Alice Springs late the following morning. The train departs Adelaide every Sunday, and also on Wednesdays between April and
October.
Whilst the Indian Pacific train does travel between Adelaide and Broken Hill, it doesn't offer short distance trips such as between these two cities. There is however a twice weekly express bus service run by NSW Trainlink.
The Ghan (operated by Great Southern Railway) leaves Adelaide for Darwin once or twice each week on Wednesday afternoon (April to October) and Sunday afternoon (all year), travels overnight to Alice Springs where it arrives just after midday the next day. You have four hours in Alice Springs before the train heads north again overnight to
Katherine where another 3-4 hour stop is scheduled on the Tuesday or Friday morning. Finally, The Ghan departs Katherine around noon and heads to Darwin arriving there in the late afternoon of each Tuesday and Friday.
Two days every week (Sunday and Thursday), Great Southern Railway run The Overland from Adelaide to Melbourne. The train departs Adelaide Parklands (Keswick) terminal early morning then travels through the day, and arrives at Melbourne Southern Cross station in the late afternoon of that same day. The Overland was Australias first established intercapital train, and although today it is a thoroughly modern train it has been proudly connecting Adelaide and Melbourne for well over 120 years.
If you need to travel on a day when The Overland train does not run, you can catch
V/Lines Daylink bus service from Adelaide Central bus station. This departs early
every morning, and travels through eastern SA and Western Victoria before arriving at
Bendigo in Northern Victoria. There you change to a connecting V/Line train for the
final sector of your trip into Melbourne Southern Cross station, where you will arrive in
the early evening. The whole journey will take about 12 hours of which only the final 2
hours are by train.
Regular Premier Stateliner buses depart from Adelaide Central Bus station for
Mount Gambier. There are two routes - one via the coast, the other inland via
Naracoorte. The journey takes a little over 6 hours via either route.
Great Southern Railway operate the famous Indian Pacific train once or twice each
week across the country from Sydney to Perth. It stops en-route in Adelaide at the
Adelaide Parklands (Keswick) rail Terminal where you can board this train. It departs
in the late afternoon or early evening (6:40pm) each Sunday and Thursday, then
heads westward across the Nullarbor plain, You will spend two nights on board,
enjoying the all comforts of a luxury train - sleeping berths, dining cars, lounge car.
Arrival at East Perth terminal station is early/mid morning (9:10am) Tuesday and
Saturday. Note that the Sunday departure operates only between September and
March.
Once or twice each week you can board Great Southern Railways Indian Pacific train
at Adelaide Parklands (Keswick) rail terminal for the trip across to Sydney via Broken
Hill. The train departs Adelaide mid morning (10:00am) each Tuesday and Friday,
reaches Broken Hill that same evening, then travels through the night across the Blue
Mountains and delivers you at Sydney Central station mid morning almost exactly 24
hours after leaving Adelaide. Note that the Friday departure operates only between
September and November.
Two days each week (Thursday ad Sunday), Great Southern Railway run The Overland from Adelaide to Melbourne. The train departs Adelaide Parklands terminal (Keswick) early morning, travels through the day, and arrives at Melbourne Southern Cross station in the evening of that same day. After a wait of a little over an hour, NSW Trainlink's Melbourne XPT departs for an overnight journey to Sydney where it arrives early the following morning, Alternatively if you prefer daylight travel, you can
stay overnight in Melbourne and catch the morning departure of Countrylinks Melbourne XPT. This train travels through the day, and arrives at Sydney Central station late that same evening. This journey enables you to travel the entire way from Adelaide to Sydney by rail in daylight hours.
You travel from Adelaide to Sydney by catching a V/Line Speedlink bus to Albury, and then connect into NSW Trainlink's XPT train for the remainder of the journey. The Speedlink bus departs from Adelaide central bus station early every morning, then travels across the Mallee and northern Victoria before arriving at Albury late that same evening. It is timed to connect with NSW Trainlink's Melbourne XPT train from
Melbourne to Sydney. You travel overnight on the XPT train which will dliver you to Sydney Central station early the following morning. The entire journey will take you a little under a day.
Regular Premier Stateliner buses depart from Adelaide Central Bus station for
Whyalla and the Eyre Peninsula. The journey takes about 5 hours 40 minutes.
Check out our list of train journeys from major Australian Cities. Each page has links to timetables and online ticket booking for journeys to country and interstate destinations.
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