The Indian Pacific was spotted rolling through Orange early on Thursday morning on tis first westbound trip in almost 12 months, returning from a year-long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Australia's transcontinental rail service officially resumed a week earlier going from Adelaide to Perth, with the first westbound trip since late March last year leaving from Sydney on Wednesday afternoon.
The train will arrive at Perth on Saturday after the 4,352-kilometre, 65-hour long trip across the country, with stops and on-location experiences and excursions in Broken Hill, Adelaide and the Nullabor.
The service did manage to celebrate its 50th anniversary in February last year, the month before COVID-19 restrictions forced trips to be put on hold.
Journey Beyond Rail, the service's facilitator, also confirmed its other cross-country trains including The Ghan and The Overland are up and running again too.
The former links Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs while the latter runs between Melbourne and Adelaide.
While announcing the services' return, Journey Beyond Rail also said availability throughout the remainder of the year filling quickly. The season launch for 2022 will open after Easter.
In the announcement, Journey Beyond Rail also said travellers should note border restrictions with people travelling into Western Australia from Victoria still required to quarantine. That is set to change on March 15.
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
