On 1 November 1997, the Australian luxury passenger train services The Ghan, Indian Pacific and The Overland were sold to Great Southern Rail, a consortium of GB Railways, Legal & General, Macquarie Bank, RailAmerica, G13 Pty Ltd and Serco. Included were 186 items of rolling stock, primarily stainless steel coaches, as well as the stations at Adelaide and  Alice Springs. In October 1999, Serco bought out its consortium partners. Serco in turn sold the entire operation to Allegro Funds in March 2015. The Ghan travels 2,979km from Adelaide to Darwin. The Indian Pacific covers 4,352km from Sydney to Perth. Operation of The Overland (Adelaide-Melbourne) is subsidised by the Victorian and South Australian governments. The other services are profit. Allegro founding partner and managing director Adrian Loader explains that luxury travel is benefiting from a drop in the value of the Australian dollar, giving overseas tourists more spending power. As high as $US1.10 in late 2011, the Australian dollar is presently trading around $US0.77. Sounds hard to believe, yet the South African Rand was once worth about $US1.10. That was back in the mid- seventies.

Source: www.railwaysafrica.com - Photo by Hourann Bosci from Perth, Australia