The state governments of South Australia and Tasmania, whose railway systems were deeply in debt, accepted.

These were: In 1980, a delegation of senior staff and led by the General Manager visited North America to examine current railway practices.

The areas looked at included marketing and pricing, finance and planning, engineering and staff training.

[5] Australian National operated passenger services within South Australia, mainly using Bluebird railcars.

In December 1986, Australian National reintroduced services to Whyalla and Broken Hill using CB railcars.

In November 1996, the federal government announced a major rail reform package that included the sale of Australian National.

[15] On 1 November 1997, The Ghan, Indian Pacific and Overland passenger services were sold to Great Southern Rail,[16] the South Australian intrastate services to Genesee & Wyoming Australia and AN Tasrail to the Australian Transport Network.

[18] In October 2000, following the resolution of outstanding issues relating to property and employee compensation, Australian National was wound up.