At that time, Perth, the capital of Western Australia, was isolated from the remaining Australian states by thousands of miles of desert terrain and the only practicable method of transport was by sea.

Once passenger trains started to run, maintenance staff found that the high mineral salt content of bore water available along the route was playing havoc with steam locomotive boilers: repairs to boilers at one time accounted for an extraordinary 87 per cent of all locomotive maintenance.

Soon afterwards, the South Australian Railways extended its 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad-gauge line 47 km (29 mi) north to Port Pirie from Redhill.

These two projects made redundant the indirect 290 kilometres (180 miles), 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow-gauge connection from Terowie via Peterborough and Quorn, resulting in a much shorter and more comfortable journey to Adelaide.

These two projects eliminated one break of gauge in the journey across Australia, but they turned Port Pirie Junction yard into a complex three-gauge facility.

After the Sydney–Perth route was converted to standard gauge in 1970, the railway was no longer flanked at both ends by narrow-gauge lines and an all-through service, called the Indian Pacific, was started.

Although passengers no longer had to move to different carriages at change-of-gauge localities, Commonwealth Railways remained responsible for the service where it operated between Port Pirie and Kalgoorlie, with its crews and locomotives taking over at those stations.

[13] In 1993, Australian National took over operation of the entire coast-to-coast service following agreement with the governments of Western Australia and New South Wales.

[14] In 1997, following the privatisation of Australian National, the Indian Pacific was sold to a company, Great Southern Rail (as of 2020 trading as "Journey Beyond").

[16] From the start of construction until 1996, the Tea and Sugar supply train carried vital provisions to the work sites and localities, all of them isolated, along the route: a butcher and banking and postal services were among the facilities provided.

Although there are several hundred curves and gradients on the line, the route includes the longest length of straight track in the world – 478.193 kilometres (297.135 miles).

[citation needed] Reflecting the line's ownership by the Commonwealth Government, eight of the localities were named (or renamed) after Australian Prime Ministers.

Locomotive cabs are fitted with an activated points system (ICAPS) to set the required route without having to stop the train.