The Southern Spirit
Encyclopedia
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"The Southern Spirit" was planned as a luxury rail cruise
Luxury trains
Luxury trains are special trains designed specifically to offer a sumptuous yet elegant train ride, and evoke a strong sense of association as in history, heritage and decadence of a leisure ride. Luxury trains operate in several countries and offer a luxurious and comfortable traveling option to...
train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, operated by Great Southern Railway
Great Southern Railway (Australia)
Great Southern Railway , owned by Serco Asia Pacific, is a tourism business and rail transport operator in Australia.GSR operates interstate passenger trains aimed at the tourist market:* The Indian Pacific...
(GSR). The train was launched in June 2008 and was planned to travel all over Australia, with the first service originally planned to have run in November 2008. The train was planned to operate from November to February each year, and combine train travel with overnight hotel stays, and other experiences similar to land excursions during sea cruises
Cruising (maritime)
Cruising by boat is a lifestyle that involves living for extended time on a boat while traveling from place to place for pleasure. Cruising generally refers to trips of a few days or more, and can extend to round-the-world voyages.- History :...
.
Nearly all of the originally planned journeys did not happen. "The Grand Tour", (the inaugural journey), was re-planned for 22 January 2009.
The first trip actually took place on 9 January 2010, travelling from Uluru to Brisbane over 13 nights. The itinerary included Kings Canyon and Alice Springs (Northern Territory), Coober Pedy and Kangaroo Island (South Australia), Philip Island (Victoria) and Hunter Valley (New South Wales).
The second journey is planned to leave Brisbane on 24 January 2010, and arrive in Uluru on 6 February 2010. "Prices for both trips, including meals, touring and off-train accommodation, are A$10,590 a person in gold class and A$13,999 in platinum."
Service
Passengers on the train are accommodated in five new 'Platinum class' carriages constructed at a cost of $12 million, with compartments twice the size of the 'Gold class' carriages on other GSR services, and feature double beds rather than two bunks. At the end of the cruise season, the carriages will be used on The Ghan. The cost of each tour is between $7000 and $14,000 depending on the cruise and the class of travel. Haulage of the train is provided by Pacific NationalPacific National
Pacific National is one of Australia's largest private rail freight businesses. Originally a joint venture between Patrick Corporation and Toll Holdings; it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Asciano Limited following the restructure of Toll Holdings....
NR class
NR class
The NR class are an Australian mainline diesel electric locomotives introduced by National Rail in 1996. They were the only locomotives ordered by National Rail, thus being named the "NR" Class...
locomotives, as with other GSR services. NR85 was repainted into a special livery for the train in September 2008, as was NR84.
Each rail cruise during a season was intended to cover a different route, travelling to cities already visited by GSR such as Katherine
Katherine, Northern Territory
Katherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of Australia in the Northern Territory. It is the fourth largest settlement in the Territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs...
, Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
; and tourist locations that are not, such as Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Coffs Harbour
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
-History:By the early 1900s, the Coffs Harbour area had become an important timber production centre. Before the opening of the North Coast Railway Line, the only way to transport large items of heavy but low value, such as timber, was by coastal shipping. This meant sawmillers on the North Coast...
, and the Hunter Valley.
External links
- The Southern Spirit (official site}
- The Southern Spirit (Rail Plus Australasia)
- Photos: