Spirit of Queensland

The Spirit of Queensland runs 1,681 kilometres from Brisbane to Cairns, up the length of the Queensland coast between the Great Dividing Range and the sea, in a little over 25 hours. It leaves Brisbane in the middle of the afternoon, runs through the night past Bundaberg, Gladstone and Rockhampton, and spends the whole of the next day in the tropics: Proserpine for the Whitsundays, the Burdekin, Townsville, the coast at Cardwell, the cane towns of Tully and Innisfail, and Cairns at five in the evening.

The railway under it was never planned as one line. It opened in more than sixty separate pieces between 1881 and 1924, many of them short local railways running inland from a port, and a few of them tramways built by the shire councils, which the state bought up and rebuilt. Coastal steamers carried passengers between the gaps. The last section, 94 kilometres with major bridges at Daradgee, near Innisfail, opened on 10 December 1924, and Cairns was joined to Brisbane by rail for the first time — 52 hours away.

The train is a diesel tilt train with two kinds of accommodation: Economy Seats, and RailBeds, wide reclining seats that the crew make up at night into flat beds, with every main meal served at your seat. It runs four times a week in each direction.

Brisbane to Bundaberg

Northbound trains leave Roma Street at 15:45. For the first hour the line runs out through Brisbane's northern suburbs, under the wires of the city network; past Caboolture it crosses open country below the Glass House Mountains, the volcanic plugs James Cook named from the sea in 1770, and runs on through the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast at Nambour and Cooroy. By Gympie and Maryborough, where coaches meet the train for Hervey Bay, it is dusk or dark, and the train reaches Bundaberg, the sugar and rum city, at 20:35.

Through the night

The stretch from Bundaberg to Mackay passes in the dark in both directions. Northbound, the train calls at Gladstone towards eleven and at Rockhampton just after midnight, where the line runs down the middle of Denison Street through the centre of the city. Somewhere north of Rockhampton it passes its highest point, only 136 metres above the sea. It reaches Mackay at 05:08, and it is light by Proserpine, two hours later.

The tropical north

The second day is the reason to go. From Proserpine, the stop for Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays, the line runs on through Bowen and across the Burdekin River at Home Hill and Ayr, into Townsville at 10:25. Beyond Ingham it comes down to the coast at Cardwell, facing Hinchinbrook Island across its mangrove channel, then turns inland through the wet tropics: Tully, Innisfail, the cane fields under the mountains at Gordonvale, and Cairns at 17:05. Southbound trains cover the same country in daylight on the way down, leaving Cairns at 07:40 and reaching Proserpine at 17:16.

The train

The Spirit of Queensland is a diesel tilt train, built to lean into curves on Queensland's 1,067-millimetre narrow gauge and run at up to 160 km/h. Downer built new power cars and carriages and rebuilt the two older tilt trains, and the first train entered service in October 2013; by the end of 2014 it had replaced the Sunlander, which had run the coast since 1953. Each train has a power car at either end, two RailBed cars in a two-and-one layout, Economy Seat carriages in two-and-two, a club car with the café, and a luggage van. There are showers at the end of each carriage. There is no Wi-Fi, and the mobile signal fails for long stretches.

The Spirit of Queensland runs four times a week in each direction, all year. Northbound trains leave Brisbane on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; southbound trains leave Cairns on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Every seat and RailBed must be booked.

Times at the larger stations are arrivals; the train waits there for 10 to 30 minutes. The journey takes 25 hours 20 minutes either way, arriving the next day. Smaller stations — among them Cooroy, Miriam Vale, St Lawrence, Sarina, Bowen, Home Hill, Ingham, Cardwell, Tully, Babinda and Gordonvale — are request stops: the train calls only if a passenger has booked to or from them.

Connections

A RailBus meets the train at Maryborough West for Hervey Bay, and at Proserpine for Airlie Beach and the Shute Harbour jetty; book it with the rail ticket, and confirm the Airlie pick-up with Whitsunday Transit two days before travelling. At Cairns, the Kuranda Scenic Railway leaves from the same station.

Times are from Queensland Rail Travel's timetable, effective from September 2024 and updated August 2025, which the booking system still shows — as of October 2026. Bookings are open to 31 March 2027. Check the Spirit of Queensland timetable (opens in a new tab) before travelling.

Tickets are sold by Queensland Rail Travel, online, by phone or through travel agents, one way and for a seat or RailBed on a named train. The cheapest are BQuick advance fares, limited in number and paid at once; AChoice is the standard fare. Both can be changed for A$15 or cancelled for a fee. Breaking the journey means buying two tickets, priced by sector.

Children aged 4 to 15 save up to half the AChoice fare, and students and international backpackers up to 40%; an infant in a RailBed needs its own bed at the child fare. The prices below are for travel until 31 March 2027; fares rise by about 3.4% from 1 April 2027.

Queensland Rail Travel sells two passes for overseas visitors, and the Spirit of Queensland is covered by both. The Queensland Coastal Pass (A$209) gives a month of travel in one direction between Brisbane and Cairns, with as many stops as you like and the RailBus to Hervey Bay and Airlie Beach included; the Queensland Explorer Pass (A$299 for a month, A$389 for two) covers every long-distance train in the state, the outback lines included. Both are for Economy Seats; a RailBed costs the difference in fare, and every journey must still be reserved.

Is it worth it? Only if you stop. The Coastal Pass does not allow the trip straight through — at least one break of 24 hours is compulsory — but at A$209 it costs less than the cheapest Economy fare from Brisbane to Cairns (A$229.20), however many stops you make. You need a foreign passport and a second proof of residence abroad, or a return air ticket. Interrail and Eurail do not cover Australia.

Checked October 2026 against Queensland Rail Travel's fare types (opens in a new tab).

The train calls at most of these itself; Hervey Bay and Airlie Beach are reached by the RailBus that meets it, and K'gari and Magnetic Island by ferry. Breaking the journey means a stay of two or three days, since the next train in the same direction is that long away.

The RailBed is the night on the train. For a night either side of it, or a break of journey halfway, the places below are in central Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns.

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