Train routes in Australia
32 routes · classic 12 · night train 5 · scenic 3 · heritage 7 · mountain 2 · luxury 3
32 routes cross Australia in the World Train Map atlas. The longest is the Indian Pacific at 4,352 km; the fastest is the Melbourne XPT, running up to 160 km/h; the oldest line dates to 1854. Every route links to its facts, photo and story, and to the interactive world map.
Open the world railway map →Classic (12)
- Spirit of Queensland
A tilting train with lie-flat “railbeds” running the Coral Sea coast toward the Great Barrier Reef.
Wikipedia ↗ - The Overland
Running since 1887 as the Intercolonial Express, Australia’s oldest interstate rail journey now crosses the Wimmera wheat belt twice weekly.
Wikipedia ↗ - The Prospector
Australia’s fastest diesel railcars shadow the 1903 goldfields water pipeline across the Wheatbelt to Kalgoorlie’s Golden Mile.
Wikipedia ↗ - Electric Tilt Train
The world’s fastest narrow-gauge train: it set Australia’s rail speed record of 210 km/h in 1999 and still tilts through cane country at 160 km/h.
Wikipedia ↗ - Canberra Xplorer
The only passenger train to Australia’s capital: three Xplorer railcars a day take the 1914 branch past the wind farms above Lake George.
Wikipedia ↗ - Outback Xplorer
Weekly railcar over the Blue Mountains and out past Parkes into the saltbush: thirteen hours from Sydney Central to the silver town on the South Australian border.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bairnsdale line
Across Gippsland from Melbourne: three VLocity trains a day pass the Latrobe Valley’s coal towns to Bairnsdale, reached by rail in 1888; beyond Sale the trains stopped in 1993 and returned in 2004.
Wikipedia ↗ - Hunter Line
Australia’s last regular steam passenger trains ran here until July 1971. Railcars now take the Hunter River Railway Company’s line of 1857 up the valley from Newcastle to Scone.
Wikipedia ↗ - Armidale Xplorer
Up the Great Northern to the New England tableland, reached at Armidale in 1883: a daily Xplorer climbs eight hours from Sydney through the Hunter Valley and over the Liverpool Range.
Wikipedia ↗ - Warrnambool line
From Warrnambool by Terang, Camperdown and Colac to Geelong and Melbourne; the line reached Warrnambool in 1890 and has run VLocity trains since November 2024.
Wikipedia ↗ - Gold Coast line
The Gold Coast’s railway to Brisbane: a new line opened in 1996 and extended to Varsity Lakes in 2009, by Robina, Nerang and Helensvale to Roma Street.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bendigo line
From Melbourne to the goldfields city of Bendigo by Sunbury, the Macedon Ranges, Kyneton and Castlemaine; the railway reached Bendigo, then called Sandhurst, in 1862.
Wikipedia ↗
Night train (5)
- Melbourne XPT
Australia’s InterCity 125 cousin runs the overnight between its two biggest rivals, cricket ashes optional.
Wikipedia ↗ - Brisbane XPT
The overnight run still books twin sleepers as it corkscrews through the Border Loop spiral, blasted through rainforest ranges in 1932.
Wikipedia ↗ - Spirit of the Outback
Up the coast to Rockhampton, then dead west into Matilda country: sleepers and the Tuckerbox diner, 1,325 km to the stockman’s capital.
Wikipedia ↗ - The Inlander
Queensland’s grand old night train since 1953. Coral Sea to Cloncurry’s red plains and the smokestacks of Mount Isa, 977 unhurried kilometres.
Wikipedia ↗ - The Westlander
Over the Toowoomba range by night and out across the Darling Downs: twice a week until the wheat gives way to mulga at Charleville.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (3)
- Kuranda Scenic Railway
Navvies hand-carved 15 tunnels and 37 bridges up Barron Gorge in the 1880s; trains still pause at the falls’ lookout above the rainforest.
Wikipedia ↗ - The Gulflander
“From nowhere to nowhere” once a week: the 1891 Gulf line’s hollow steel sleepers shrug off every wet-season flood; the old railmotor just keeps going.
Wikipedia ↗ - Blue Mountains Line
Climbs from near sea level to 1,017 m at Katoomba through a UNESCO-listed maze of sandstone cliffs and eucalypt canyons.
Wikipedia ↗
Heritage (7)
- Puffing Billy Railway
Legs out the window over Monbulk Creek trestle: century-old narrow-gauge steam through Dandenongs fern gullies, Australia’s best-loved heritage line.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pichi Richi Railway
The original Ghan route through Pichi Richi Pass: 1879 stonework, volunteer-run steam and the 1928 “Barwell Bull” railcar to quaint Quorn.
Wikipedia ↗ - Mary Valley Rattler
A 1920s C17 barks out of Gympie across Deep Creek bridge: the 1915 fruit branch through the Mary Valley, saved twice and steaming on weekends.
Wikipedia ↗ - Byron Bay Solar Train
The world’s first fully solar-powered train: a 1949 “red rattler” gliding three kilometres of resurrected line to Byron Bay’s beaches.
Wikipedia ↗ - Savannahlander
Sixty-year-old railmotors take two unhurried days to cover 424 km from coastal rainforest to the 1910 gold-rush railhead at Forsayth.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cockle Train
Rides Australia’s oldest steel-railed public route, opened in 1854 with horse haulage to link Murray riverboats to the sea.
Wikipedia ↗ - Zig Zag Railway
A 19th-century engineering marvel in the Blue Mountains: trains reverse down a rock-cut Z of sandstone viaducts that once carried the main western line off the plateau.
Wikipedia ↗
Mountain (2)
- West Coast Wilderness Railway
The 1896 copper railway hauls itself up 1-in-16 grades on Abt rack cogs, steaming once more from Queenstown’s bare hills into the King River rainforest.
Wikipedia ↗ - Katoomba Scenic Railway
The Guinness-listed steepest passenger railway on earth: a 52-degree plunge into the Jamison Valley on an 1880s coal-mine incline.
Wikipedia ↗
Luxury (3)
- The Ghan
Named for the Afghan cameleers: 2,979 km straight through the Red Centre, completed to Darwin only in 2004.
Wikipedia ↗ - Indian Pacific
Ocean to ocean across Australia, including the world’s longest railway straight: 478 dead-level kilometres on the Nullarbor.
Wikipedia ↗ - Great Southern
The Ghan’s summer sibling. Adelaide to Brisbane the long way round, with Grampians sunsets, Canberra and a Coffs Harbour beach stop en route.
Wikipedia ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons; each route page credits the author & licence
What is the fastest train in Australia?
The Melbourne XPT, running Sydney to Melbourne at up to 160 km/h. It is one of 32 routes in Australia in this atlas.
Are there night trains in Australia?
Yes, 5 sleeper services in this atlas serve Australia: Melbourne XPT (Sydney – Melbourne), Brisbane XPT (Sydney – Brisbane), Spirit of the Outback (Brisbane – Longreach), The Inlander (Townsville – Mount Isa), and others.
Can you cross the border by train from Australia?
No route in this atlas crosses a land border out of Australia. Every line listed here begins and ends inside the country.
Which is the most scenic railway in Australia?
Australia has 5 scenic or mountain lines in this atlas. The longest is the Blue Mountains Line, 156 km.