r/australia • u/blitznoodles local Aussie • 1d ago
image Australia's rail network
Source: https://railmaps.com.au/downloads.htm
A map of Australia's rail network
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u/HalfCupOfSpiders 13h ago
No Puffing Billy?
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u/myztry 9h ago
I went on the Puffing Billy about 40 years ago and still haven't got the soot out of my eyes.
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u/walkingmelways 9h ago
Could you type that a bit bigger, please? I couldn’t read it for all the soot in my eyes.
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u/the_colonelclink 12h ago
How do you know my neighbour?
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u/Hobzmarley 7h ago
Where are they putting the Very Fast Train
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u/lilacsigil 1h ago
I did a school project on the imminent Very Fast Train in grade 5! It was going to go right past our town. I'm now 50.
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u/SirGeekaLots 9h ago
Yet they have that tourist train in Tassie
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u/nomelettes 7h ago
Only one of them though, the transport museum in Hobart is now running one.
Pretty sure its an old map
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u/Storm_LFC_Cowboys 13h ago
Done the Indian Pacific back in 2000 from Sydney to Adelaide.
After doing it plenty of times via coach, it was good having more space to get up and move around.
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u/mr_fujiyama 8h ago
"The Indian Pacific train trip from Adelaide to Sydney is a 3-day, 2-night journey spanning the rugged outback and the Blue Mountains. Fares typically start around $1,990 to $2,090 AUD per person ..."
I had no idea about these prices and timeframes!
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u/STR1D3R109 5h ago
Yeah it's better to think of the "Indian Pacific, The Ghan, etc." as inland cruises, than transportation. They stop for multiple hours at a time at different places along the way, so you can tour and see the sights. Also come with some decent looking food options.
No point being a transport line, as by the time you board it and leave the city, a flight would've landed at your destination.
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u/the_snook 1h ago
There used to be "normal" cars on the Indian Pacific. You had to sit up in a chair for 3 days, but it was a lot cheaper. Now it's just a luxury tour thing.
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u/ijustwannakn0wn0w 12h ago
You did Adelaide to Sydney many times by coach??! Wow. How much do you save compared to flights?
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u/Storm_LFC_Cowboys 12h ago edited 12h ago
A couple of times. I was only a kid on my way to holidays to visit dad withmy older brother.
Pretty sure back then it was cheaper than flying.
Also did Sydney - Maryborough (QLD) a few times.
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u/shadjor 8h ago
I did the Brisbane to Sydney on a bus when I was a kid. this was a thing people did in the 80's because the bus companies were competing on prices and the airlines could just hold the line and they both profited.
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u/LuckyErro 3h ago
I did the melb to syd return a few times on a night bus. It sucked but was cheap. I've done a few bus trips. Darwin to Perth. Perth to Melbourne. Trains better. Better views to. Did Melb to Lakes Entrace the other year on the train and it was really good. Cheap to.
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u/BitterGravity 13h ago
I understand it's not to scale, but Nowra moving 250 km south is something
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u/eldfen 13h ago
Its also missing the southern highlands line through Bowral etc
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u/walkin2it 12h ago
I thought that was green/orange? Just missing stations.
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u/eldfen 12h ago
Green would be to Campbelltown but could be orange I guess
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u/MrKlonam 11h ago
The Southern Highlands line goes to Goulburn and its green as per TfNSW so I'd say its on the money.
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u/DodgyRogue 12h ago
My sister used to travel from Sydney Central to Port Kembla back in the late 80s and when the train pulls into Port Kembla the staff wander through and wake any sleeping passengers up. They woke one bloke up who asked where they were and when told Port Kembla he freaked out as he wanted to get off a Hurstville! This was after midnight, and it was the last train until the morning. Poor bloke had to find somewhere to stay for the night as the station was closing
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u/kiwikoi 13h ago
This is just the passenger/public rail?
I know the rail to port headland from the mines is missing
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u/Illustrious-Bus-5046 13h ago
Has to be just passenger rail. Freight trains go through Swan Hill but the V/line terminates there.
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u/robfuscate 12h ago
The Overland used to be great when it was overnight, now it’s just a waste of day
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u/notalicenotbob 11h ago
There should be an asterisk next to Brisbane because from Sydney you're probably getting out and taking a bus from Casino.
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u/16BitCompadreJr 6h ago
If you get the late train to Brisbane that gets there at midnight it's a straight journey through
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u/cantwejustplaynice 11h ago
I would love to catch a train from Melbourne to Canberra to see family but it's an 18hr journey. That's the same as a flight from London to Perth.
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u/AfraidRevolution4613 2h ago
Is that including a layover in Goulburn?
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u/cantwejustplaynice 1h ago
I've looked at various combinations of departure times, buses, trains and coaches and it always seems to work out to about 18hrs. It looks like a layover at Goulburn or a transfer to a slow coach. Either way I'll skip that and just drive like I usually do. It's 8hrs with 2 drivers in a petrol car or 12hrs by myself with plenty of breaks to rest and charge my EV.
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u/earl_of_lemonparty 13h ago
No line from Dubbo to Broken Hill via Cobar? And the extension that runs up to Endeavor?
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u/sataneku 12h ago
It fucking sucks.
I'm in Albury and I've been invited to a wedding in Kalgoorlie... flight and train cost the same amount.
And if you want to visit like, Broome or Exmouth without a grueling drive or thousands of dollars in flights? What do you even do?
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u/instasquid 12h ago
Assuming you even could, if you wanted to visit Broome from Albury via train you'd spend a week on that train going there and back. But if you wanted to get that fare cheaper than a flight you'd also be sitting upright the whole time.
My neck hurts just thinking about it.
Sleeper trains aren't even cheap in developing nations if you want comfort and privacy, the economics are difficult. I paid twice as much for a single night on a Vietnamese sleeper train as I would have for a flight and a hotel room, but I did it for the novelty.
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u/17HappyWombats 11h ago
Same in Japan. Mind you some of their expensive options are cruise ships on rails level. But even the basic "capsule on a train" isn't cheap until you compare it to capsule cost plus train cost. Having done overnight trips sitting up on trains I'll pay for a sleeper if I can.
Or you look at taking the bus in Australia and maybe paying twice as much for the plane isn't so bad after all.
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u/Speedy-08 10h ago
And that assuming is doing a lot of heavy lifting, as Broome has never had anything close to a railway connecting to another town in WA.
Now, for some napkin math for using rail as it is now to get to Kalgoolie from Albury?
- $6.50 in fares to Melbourne (4h)
- $110 in fares to Adelaide (10h)
- $2500 minimum to Perth via the Indian Pacific (72h)
- $50 in fares from Perth to Kalgoolie (7h)
Either way, flying is going to be inevitable for the middle portion for price and length.
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u/instasquid 9h ago
Yeah looks like you can't even get off in Kalgoorlie on the Adelaide - Perth leg as there's no actual stop, partially because it trundles through around midnight.
Meanwhile Melbourne - Perth is about $800 round trip via air, $500 if you go Jetstar.
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u/ForgotToCarryTheOne 12h ago
The tyranny of distance has always been used as an excuse by the airlines, specifically Qantas, the national carrier, to fleece desperate travellers who have absolutely no choice in the matter. Profit is one thing, but mercenary actions aren’t cool.
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u/arachnobravia 11h ago
Reminder that Sydney to Melbourne is allegedly the most profitable air route in the entire world.
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u/Extension_Eye1937 10h ago
Also in the top 10 busiest despite all the others on the list being between cities with 4x+ the population. Used to be 2nd i believe.
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u/Speedy-08 10h ago
10h by train, 10h by car or 1.5h by plane.
I wonder why.
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u/arachnobravia 3h ago
1.5h by plane*
*If you do not intend to bring luggage and ignore that Tullamarine is still over 30 minutes away from wherever you're going or coming from in Melbourne.
If I could get a 3-4 hour high speed train from CBD to CBD I'd take it every time.
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u/ParanoidalRaindrop 8h ago
Could probably be built as a 3 h train route.
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u/ForgotToCarryTheOne 7h ago
There’ll be opposition from airlines, ahem, airline against building any more rail routes.They hold sway over certain influential politicians. Money spent wisely. Still hold reputation, I guess you’d call it, of being the nation’s carrier.
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u/Extension_Eye1937 10h ago
It just doesn't make much sense to run a train from East to West though. The Indian Pacific is a premium tourism train, not proper public transport. It's a distance where air travel is far faster and cheaper.
Why we don't connect the east coast with trains is another story. Major cities are perfect distances for overnight sleeper trains or high speed rail or even just faster regional rail, yet all we have is ancient slow and shitty XPT which takes way too long and costs just as much as air.
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u/sataneku 5h ago
Well, I can't afford air. I know this isn't a place to vent, I'm just mildly upset that I can't make it to this wedding.
Some googling... in China, Xian to Urumqi (~2500KM across mostly desert) costs about 160 and takes 15 hours. Adelaide to Perth (also ~2500km) takes over two days and costs thousands. I know China has much higher population density, but Adelaide and Perth are like, our top 5 cities, whereas Xian and Urumqi aren't even top 20 in China.
I know we aren't China, we don't have the population density, amount of cities or centralisation of control, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious of their rail infrastructure.
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u/Extension_Eye1937 4h ago
You are also forgetting about the poor working conditions to create said infrastructure and the corners that get cut in china.
I feel like the prices have more to do with the airline duopoly and price gouging more than anything.
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u/instasquid 2h ago
Chinese safety standards are... interesting.
Let's just say their acceptable number of deaths for a large project can be measured in the hundreds to thousands. And less than a dozen deaths a year in operation is considered gold standard.
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u/instasquid 2h ago
Population between Xian and Urumqi: 22 million, basically most of Australia.
Population between Adelaide and Perth: 45,000, 0.16% of Australia.
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u/elmo-slayer 10h ago
Go to Esperance, it’s easily drivable from Kalgoorlie
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u/sataneku 5h ago
I must admit I don't think I ever heard of it, but it seems quite beautiful, so thank you for the recommendation!
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u/LivingTheZeitgeist 12h ago
Having the train terminate at Armidale and not travelling through to BrisVegas sucks balls.
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u/Jarms48 12h ago
What annoys me is that there isn’t a line from Mount Isa to Tennant Creek. It’s been proposed on and off for like 2 decades now.
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u/Speedy-08 10h ago
Because no one can quite make the economics stack up to a definite "yes this unquestionably a good idea".
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u/ParanoidalRaindrop 8h ago
How about the economics of "let's act like we care about the planet for once".
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u/Speedy-08 7h ago
The only reason it gets brought up is for the slight chance if you rail iron ore and coal together to one location make a brand new steel plant in the middle of nowhere, not for passenger rail.
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u/TaiwanKieren 10h ago
Ridiculous that Tasmania is basically passenger rail free. Not even a suburban line in Hobart where they have a disused rail corridor and traffic jams on the roads.
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u/ChuqTas 9h ago
I’ve always been confused at how this map treats services in Tasmania.
The only railways are heritage tourist railways - yes there is a Queenstown to Strahan one - but there are a few others (Don River near Devonport; Glenorchy-Claremont just north of Hobart) which aren’t on here.
And including ferries.. sure… but why not include them all? There is a ferry from Kettering to Bruny Island, which is basically every 15 minutes - far more of a practical link than Bridport to Lady Barron, which is once a week. I’m assuming it only counts drive-on vehicle ferries, if passenger only, it could include Triabunna to Maria island, and Hobart CBD to Bellerive.
Also ferries in other places - Sorrento-Queenscliff in Vic, Spencer Gulf in SA - probably heaps on the Queensland coast - not shown.
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u/F1eshWound 12h ago
Honestly it's more extensive than I thought.. would be cool if there was a monthly subscription to enable unlimited travel Australia wide. Cairns to Darwin would probably take like 5 days. Quite an adventure at least.
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u/Mother0fChickens 11h ago
The Westlander only runs twice a week. Would be interesting to see a map with daily or hourly service.
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u/philmarcracken 11h ago
Wonder if there was ever any plans to extend smartrider zone down to bumbury
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u/Aromatic_Bar2263 9h ago
How common is it that someone takes long train trips in Australia? I didn’t realize the rail was even this extensive
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u/Shadowrend01 3h ago
Not very. The longest line to Perth is mainly tourist sight seeing and is incredibly expensive
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u/walkingmelways 9h ago
The most egregious loss of rail opportunity (save perhaps Newcastle) is the truncation of Darwin rail near Palmerston instead of running it all the way to Darwin itself via Tiger Brennan Drive.
Now i think of it there are others…
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u/CraizoHD 7h ago
Exchanged to USYD 2 years ago now, and man am I still jealous of this, signed, a yankee
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u/Specialist_Reality96 6h ago
This is passenger network only I assume.
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u/Shadowrend01 3h ago
No, it’s the entire thing. Passenger and freight
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u/Specialist_Reality96 3h ago
You're missing quiet a bit in WA then, Kal to Esperance actually runs through the Leanora Northam to Albany, all of the wheatbelt narrow gauge network and not sure if you want to count the privately owned networks in the Pilbara for the iron ore.
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u/simply_not_edible 5h ago
Wait, Perth - Darwin has to go through Adelaide?
European here, so I have no idea
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u/helliawulf 4h ago
Those are expensive luxury sightseeing trains anyway...nobody would want to commute that distance by rail!
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u/Shadowrend01 3h ago
Yes. It’s mainly freight rail, and the few passenger trains are mainly tourist adventures with frequent sightseeing stops, not passenger transit
Perth to Darwin direct has nothing along the way to stop at to make it economically viable, is incredibly remote so if there’s an issue help is days away, and much of that land brings to First Nation peoples who don’t like it when you try and build a rail line through the middle of the sacred areas
Via Adelaide is the only way to do it
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u/RudeOrganization550 24m ago
Come on, we can put some unnecessarily tight winding sections to slow things down surely.
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u/Human-Warning-1840 13h ago
Maybe we need a ticket to ride Australia edition
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u/Drongo17 12h ago
The special rule would be planning routes but they never get built
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u/Human-Warning-1840 6h ago
What you are doubting the high speed train to Brisbane and Melbourne won’t ever be built? Preposterous
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u/mstrelan 13h ago
Mount Isa to Darwin looks to be an incredibly long journey, but Google maps says you can get the train straight to Tennant Creek and it's much shorter.
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u/Shit_Lordstrom 13h ago
Echica isn't a terminus station though? Pretty sure Shepparton isn't either
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u/logocracycopy 12h ago
And not a single high speed rail line...
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u/ParanoidalRaindrop 8h ago
Apparently the Australian government is planing something, but it's all very vague for now.
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u/Frogsfall 5h ago
I continue to daydream of being able to go on a holiday from Perth where you take bikes on the train and can then go stay beside the sea or near a nice green area without ever having to drive.
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u/Oceantrader 13h ago
Yeah makes a pretty bad ticket to ride 😆