Sydney is one of the major hubs of rail services in Australia, and trains run from every mainland capital city in Australia (except Darwin) directly to Sydney. (Connecting services from Darwin are available in Adelaide.) The interstate rail providers are as follows:
Countrylink, run by the New South Wales Government, runs several interstate services. Trains run twice daily from Melbourne, two or three times daily from Canberra and once a day from Brisbane. These trains are much slower than flying, and slower than a coach, but are a relaxed way to see the Australian countryside.
Great Southern Railways run interstate services which are more of a tourist train than a passenger service, but still provide a chance to see the spectacular countryside. The world-famous Indian Pacific connects Perth, Adelaide and Sydney via Broken Hill. Passengers from Darwin and the Northern Territory can change services from The Ghan in Adelaide.
Both providers stop at intermediate stations on their way to and from Sydney, where it may be possible to change to bus services if you are not travelling direct to Sydney. Countrylink pricing is generally competitive with plane or bus travel. GSR offers a premium service, and will is only cost effective if you consider the train trip as more than a utilitarian means of transport.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about New South Wales
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in New South Wales - updated Apr 2024
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New South Wales Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
