NT: All aboard for momentous Aust rail journey

AAP General News (Australia)
01-16-2004
NT: All aboard for momentous Aust rail journey

By Karen Michelmore

DARWIN, Jan 16 AAP - Thousands of tonnes of shiny metal, stretching 1.2km, is slowly
snaking its way from the continent's south to its north.

It's a momentous trip - the longest continuous south-north rail journey in the world
- and one that many believed would never come.

At last, around 100 years late, the first train is rattling along Australia's newest
rail track - the $1.3 billion, 3,000km Adelaide-Darwin line.

It's carrying thousands of tonnes of freight - cornflakes, furniture, beer, cars, …