Between 1863 and 1911 the Northern Territory was administered by the Government of South Australia.^{[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.^[4] Singhalese and Indian gangs did the grubbing and earthwork and 3000 Chinese labourers laid more than a kilometre of track per day. More than 300 bridges and flood openings were built.^{[note 1]}

As a consequence of Federation, the Commonwealth (or federal) government took ownership of the railway in 1911, having undertaken to connect Darwin with Adelaide by rail – but, crucially, without the completion date being specified. Since the federal government did not yet have its own railways department, the railway was leased back to the South Australian Government and worked as part of the South Australian railway system.^[2]: 174 World War I intervened, although in 1917 the line was extended 90 km (56  mi) to the northern bank of the Katherine River.

By 1920, public interest in the idea of a north–south transcontinental railway had taken hold. 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. Queensland interests pressed strongly for a route from the north-east corner of the state, near Birdsville, and north into the pastoral lands of Queensland before joining the existing line at Katherine River. This would involve the Central Australia Railway taking a sharp turn to the east from its established railhead at Oodnadatta for a diversion about 600 km (370 mi) east of the initially intended route through the centre of the continent via Alice Springs. The federal government referred the matter to the parliamentary standing committee on public works to examine the whole question. At the same time, it authorised an extension of the line in the Northern Territory southwards to Mataranka. This was in keeping with a changed Commonwealth viewpoint – that the start of the transcontinental railway was to be in the Northern Territory, not South Australia. 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. Further, when the time arrived for construction of a transcontinental railway, the route that would be in the best interests of Australia should be selected. When the report had been accepted, further delays occurred and it was not until 1926 – 14 years after assuming ownership – that the federal government assumed actual control of the line and named it the North Australia Railway; it also took over the Central Australia Railway.^{[2]: 179–187}

In 1929, the Commonwealth Railways extended the North Australia Railway southwards to what was to be its final terminus, Birdum, and extended the Central Australia Railway northwards to its final terminus at Alice Springs. There remained a gap of more than 800 km (500 mi) to be bridged before Australia's ambitions could be fulfilled.^[2]

In the early years of its operation under Commonwealth control, traffic was light, which, given its light engineering, was for the best. In 1930, a mixed (i.e., freight and passenger) train, which Territorians had nicknamed Leaping Lena,^[5] ran to an established timetable:

• depart Darwin at 08:00 on Wednesdays
• arrive at Pine Creek at 16:46
• depart Pine Creek at 08:00 on Thursdays
• arrive at Katherine at 11:00 on Fridays
• depart Katherine at 12:00
• arrive at Birdum at 17:51 on Fridays.

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.^[6][7] The railway experienced very heavy traffic since it was a strategic route to operations north of Australia. In 1944, as many as 147 trains ran per week.^[8] Larrimah, 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) kilometres north of Birdum, was used as the railhead because, unlike Birdum, it was on the Stuart Highway.^{[note 2]}

Some wartime improvements were made, however, including new locomotive depots, expanded workshops and additional locomotive water supplies. However, personnel, locomotive power and rolling stock were in critically short supply. In desperation, the Commonwealth Railways converted cattle cars (by lining the open-planked sides and installing toilets) to transport troops northwards.^[10]

A private company proposed a railway from Birdum to Bourke, New South Wales in 1932.^[11][12]

A railway from Dajarra, Queensland to Birdum was considered in 1952-53^[13] but the federal Cabinet decided not to proceed.^[14] Construction of a standard gauge railway to Darwin was first seriously proposed in 1965 when construction of a new standard gauge line to Alice Springs was discussed.^[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. All services ceased on 30 June. Maintenance gangs were withdrawn in December 1977. Heavy floods in 1978 destroyed parts of the railway, effectively eliminating any prospect of the railway re-opening. In 1985, some rails and steel sleepers were lifted and sent for use in Tasmania.^[16]

The Pine Creek railway precinct has been placed in the Northern Territory Heritage Register.^[17] It is in the care of the National Trust Northern Territory,^[18] as is the Katherine railway station.^[19]

Nearly 20 years after the line between Tarcoola and Alice Springs was opened, a consortium was formed to build a standard gauge line between Alice Springs and Darwin.^[20] Construction was undertaken with amazing speed and efficiency, lasting 32 months from July 2001 to September 2003. The line broadly followed the original narrow-gauge route between Adelaide River and Emungalan but about 70 per cent of the whole route was on a new alignment.^[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.^{[note 3][22][23]} The first freight train from Adelaide reached Darwin in January 2004 and the first passenger service (The Ghan) from Adelaide to Darwin in February 2004, finally fulfilling the 121-year dream of a north–south transcontinental railway.

•   Media related to North Australia Railway at Wikimedia Commons
• Pine Creek NT
• Restoration of locomotive NF5
• Walkabout page on Pine Creek Archived 25 October 2005 at the Wayback Machine

15°39′S 133°13′E / 15.650°S 133.217°E / -15.650; 133.217