The
Great South Pacific Express was a luxury
trainA train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport freight or passengers from one place to another. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway....
service, run in a joint venture by
Queensland RailQR Limited is the company government-owned corporation responsible for the operation and maintenance of the railway system in the State of Queensland, Australia....
and the Venice Simplon Orient Express, that ran between
KurandaKuranda is a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is located 330 metres AHD at and is 25 kilometres from Cairns, via the Kuranda Range road. It is a town of 650 people and is surrounded by rainforest....
(near Cairns) and
SydneySydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City"...
in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
from 1998 until 2003. The train accommodated 100 passengers in up to 21 carriages, at a cost from approximately $3500 to $5500 depending on type of accommodation. The train also made occasional excursions to
CanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley.
The service ended in June 2003 when losses of around $12 million over four years forced QR to stop the service.
Discussion
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The
Great South Pacific Express was a luxury
trainA train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport freight or passengers from one place to another. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway....
service, run in a joint venture by
Queensland RailQR Limited is the company government-owned corporation responsible for the operation and maintenance of the railway system in the State of Queensland, Australia....
and the Venice Simplon Orient Express, that ran between
KurandaKuranda is a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is located 330 metres AHD at and is 25 kilometres from Cairns, via the Kuranda Range road. It is a town of 650 people and is surrounded by rainforest....
(near Cairns) and
SydneySydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City"...
in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
from 1998 until 2003. The train accommodated 100 passengers in up to 21 carriages, at a cost from approximately $3500 to $5500 depending on type of accommodation. The train also made occasional excursions to
CanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley.
The service ended in June 2003 when losses of around $12 million over four years forced QR to stop the service. The carriages themselves were owned and built by Queensland Rail at a cost of $35 million, and after the demise of the service were sold to
Orient-Express HotelsOrient-Express Hotels Ltd is a hotel and leisure company that operates high end hotels, cruise and train services around the world. As of 2008 it owns or partly owns more than 40 individual deluxe hotels, three restaurants, six tourist trains and two river cruise businesses in more than 25...
for an undisclosed price in 2005, for use on their trains overseas.
Further reading
- Great South Pacific Express Beckhaus, John Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin
Australian Railway History , is the premier magazine covering railway history in Australia. It is published monthly by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of the seven state and territory Divisions.The typical issue of this magazine contains two or...
, June, 1998 pp232–238
- Great South Pacific Express Short, Col Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin
Australian Railway History , is the premier magazine covering railway history in Australia. It is published monthly by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of the seven state and territory Divisions.The typical issue of this magazine contains two or...
, December, 2000 pp 443–455