The Indian Pacific is a weekly experiential tourism-oriented passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, like its counterpart in the north–south corridor, The Ghan, one of the few truly transcontinental trains in the world.

[12][13] The first Indian Pacific service left Sydney on 23 February 1970, becoming the first direct train to cross the Australian continent,[14] made possible by the completion of the east-west standard gauge project a few months earlier.

At the time it was the third longest passenger train in terms of distance after services on the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Canadian.

[22][23] The service was suspended from 2 December 1982 to 25 April 1983 due to an industrial dispute over staffing levels in South Australia.

[35][36] In February 1993, Australian National took over operation of the service throughout after agreement was reached with the State Rail Authority and Westrail in 1992.

However, from August 1986, the Indian Pacific was diverted to make an out-and-back trip to Adelaide adding 390 kilometres (240 mi) to the journey.

The most northern point on the line is at the western tip of the Yellabinna Regional Park, South Australia.

With subsequent infrastructure improvements and reductions to the time needed to change locomotives and crew, by 2010 the journey took 65 hours despite the longer distance.

Originally, each of the operators hauled the train over their network with locomotives changed at Broken Hill, Port Pirie and Kalgoorlie.

Due to Westrail suffering a motive power shortage, Australian National locomotives hauled the service in Western Australia from October 1973 until March 1977.

The club-cafeteria car also provided a small number of second-class seats for short-distance travelers on the Commonwealth Railways segment.

From 1975, Australian National provided full sitting carriages west of Port Pirie on two journeys per week.

Red Service, the equivalent of economy class, featured both dual-berth shared sleeper cabins and airline-style 'sit-up' seats similar to other Australian trains.

A full Indian Pacific set made promotional trips to Canberra and Newcastle for travel agents prior to its launch in February 1970.

[76][77] For more than a decade, the Indian Pacific operated a Christmas train with a noted musical artist on board,[78] stopping at locations including the remote Nullarbor Plain sidings of Watson, Cook, and Rawlinna.

[83][84][needs update] In 1980, the Indian Pacific featured in an episode of BBC Television's Great Railway Journeys of the World series, presented by Michael Frayn.

In 2019 it was also the subject of an SBS "slow television" documentary: the entire journey from Perth to Sydney was condensed into a three-hour show with no voiceover, much of it comprising footage directly from the front or sides of the train.

[85] The Indian Pacific also featured in Great Australian Railway Journeys, presented by Michael Portillo, first broadcast in November 2019.