[2]: 11, 174  In 1883, that government instituted the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway Act,[3] which resulted in a £959,300 contract being awarded to C. & E. Millar of Melbourne.

The line reached Pine Creek in 1888 and officially opened on 30 September 1889 as the northernmost outpost of the South Australian Railways.

However, the legal opinion of the federal attorney-general left open an interpretation that the route could be from anywhere across South Australia's northern border.

The committee's report, completed in late 1922, recommended that the Port Darwin to Katherine River railway be extended to Daly Waters and eventually be extended further south to Newcastle Waters before heading to the Queensland border, and that a light line be built from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs.

In 1930, a mixed (i.e., freight and passenger) train, which Territorians had nicknamed Leaping Lena,[5] ran to an established timetable: The leisurely pace was to vanish in 1942.

On the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Australian Army surveyed a rail route for the gap between Birdum and Alice Springs, on which freight had to be carried by road vehicles, but a line was not constructed.

In desperation, the Commonwealth Railways converted cattle cars (by lining the open-planked sides and installing toilets) to transport troops northwards.

[15] In May 1976, the federal government ordered the closure of the entire North Australia Railway line, mainly as a result of the loss of iron ore traffic originating from the Frances Creek mine.

[21] Modern engineering standards, much higher than those of its 19th century predecessor, resulted in none of the infrastructure on the alignment, such as it was, being retained other than the Fergusson River bridge.