Overview
Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail is Australia's premier passenger railway operator. With 150 years experience Queensland Rail can deliver some of the most amazing and memorable rail journeys in the world. Rail within Queensland has been operating for 150 years, with Queensland Rail and Queensland Rail Travel getting you to any destination along the Queensland Coast or the Queensland Outback.
Founded in 1865, Queensland Rail is dedicated to increasing rail patronage through improved reliability, frequency of services and making rail travel the transport mode of choice in Queensland. We are committed to building a better passenger business by connecting with customers, improving frontline services and facilitating Queensland’s growth and development.
Queensland Rail Travel
With more than 700,000 customer journeys on our long distance rail network including our tourist trains per year, our Queensland Rail Travel network plays an important
role in connecting regional Queensland. Offering the largest and most comprehensive network of long distance and tourist trains in Australia our services extend along
the Queensland coastline from Brisbane to Cairns and West to Charleville, Longreach and Mount Isa, more than 6,500 kilometres of track and 72 stations.
Queensland Rail Travel has been a leading commercial enterprise for North Queensland since the late 1800's linking vital southern centres with supplies and people.
For further information on Queensland Rail Travel and the fleet of long distance and unique rail journeys visit the Queensland Rail Travel website
. Far North Queensland Tourist Railway Experiences
Queensland Rail Travel's scenic tourist rail services in North Queensland provide the ultimate means of travelling through particularly remote and unique natural landscapes. These include the lush, world heritage listed rainforest and cascading waterfalls of the Barron Gorge and the unexplored, rustic terrains of Queensland's Gulf country and Savannah countries.
Gulflander
Our legendary Gulflander is a rail journey like no other. Originally built to connect the once-bustling river port of Normanton with the rich gold fields of Croydon, today the Gulflander is a tourism icon and a working tribute to the early pioneers of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Affectionately said to go from “nowhere to nowhere” the Heritage-listed Normanton to Croydon railway line has remained fully isolated from the Queensland Rail network and the only line in Queensland still measured in miles.
The railway line today, retains the original rail and sleepers laid between 1888 and 1891. An ingenious steel sleeper system allows seasonal flood waters to flow gently over the line to prevent flood damage during the heavy wet seasons of the Gulf, a design not found anywhere else in the world.
Kuranda Scenic Railway
Queensland Rail Travel's other iconic tourist service is the oldest service in the fleet.
Kuranda Scenic Railway travelling from the Cairns to Kuranda. The original Kuranda Scenic Railway is a spectacular journey comprising unsurpassed views of World Heritage-Listed rainforest, steep ravines and picturesque waterfalls within the Barron Gorge National Park. This famous railway winds its way through 15 hand carved tunnels, across the giant bridge over Stoney Creek Falls, past the spectacular Barron Falls and onto Kuranda, the village in the rainforest.
Constructed between 1882 and 1891 it is considered an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude. Hundreds of men were employed to build the renowned railway that stands as a monument to the pioneers of Tropical North Queensland.
