When the Trans-Australian Railway was completed in 1917 from Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta, about 50 settlements of various sizes were established along the line, from which maintenance workers kept the track in operational condition. They and their families led an isolated life, although they were supplied with provisions by the Tea & Sugar, a weekly provisions train which also provided banking and postal facilities until it ceased running in 1996.
Passenger trains were hauled by steam locomotives, which required taking on water at various stops along the way. The services from the 1930s to the 1940s required regular stops.
With the introduction of diesel locomotives in the early 1950s, the need for such stops decreased greatly. Subsequently, upgrading to concrete sleepers and continuously welded rail reduced track inspection and maintenance considerably. Since 2001, maintenance work has been undertaken by contractors whose families do not live on the line.
Today most services on the line are freight services operated by Aurizon, Pacific National and SCT Logistics. The only passenger train to traverse the entire line is the Indian Pacific that stops at Cook and Rawlinna. The Ghan travels on part of the Trans-Australian Railway between Port Augusta and Tarcoola but makes no stops before branching north to Darwin.
Nineteen stations on the Trans-Australian Railway were named after people: ten after former prime ministers, two after governors-generals, two after British earls, two after federal ministers, one after a prominent worker in Aboriginal welfare, one after a Premier of Western Australia. and one after a Western Australian doctor. At almost all of the localities, other than Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie, station buildings and most infrastructure was dismantled in the 1990s. Most of these sites are inaccessible by public roads; a few have short airstrips nearby.