The Ghan of the sidings. In October 1980, a new standard gauge line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs on the Trans-Australian Railway opened, and the train took the form it has today. The new line is approximately west of the former line in order to avoid floodplains where the original line was often washed away during heavy rain. It was also hoped that the construction of the new line would improve the train's timekeeping. In November 1998, one service per week was extended from Adelaide to Melbourne while from April 1999, the other was diverted to operate to Sydney. Construction of Alice
Esther Ghan Firestone with Eli Rubenstein) and conductor of the Habonim Youth Choir. She was born as Esther Cohen, and her mother's maiden name was Ghan. Her mother had fled to Canada to escape the pogroms in Ukraine, where she had been imprisoned and assaulted and had faced great poverty. Esther's uncle suggested she adopt the stage name of Esther Ghan for the sake of her career. She later married Paul Firestone and had six children: Debbie, Shawn, Jay, Danny, Ari and Hillary; Hillary died of ovarian cancer in 2009. Flanagan, Marie. "Music and baby food mix beautifully for her," Toronto Daily Star,