The Gold Coast railway line is an

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

operated by

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, connecting

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

with the Gold Coast. The line has 17 stations. In 2021, a journey from

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

to the terminus of this line was scheduled to take 1 hour 23 minutes. There are plans for several new stations along the existing line, as well as an extension south. The line ran to Tweed Heads in the early 1900s until the 1960s. A new Gold Coast railway opened in 1996 with an extension to Varsity Lakes opened in 2007. In December 2017 the G:link light rail services connected to the line at Helensvale station. Duplication of the line progressed in stages.

History

The

Beenleigh railway line The Beenleigh railway line is a suburban railway line extending 40.1 km from Boggo Road / Park Road to Beenleigh. It is part of the Queensland Rail Citytrain network. History Originally known as the Logan railway line, the line opened to ...

opened in 1885 and, in 1889, was extended to

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

as the

South Coast Line The South Coast Line (SCO) is an Regional rail, intercity rail service that services the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The service runs from , and runs the entire length of the eponymous South Coast railway line, New South W ...

. A branch line to

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a coastal city at the mouth of the Tweed River in the Northern Rivers region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tweed Heads is the northernmost town in New South Wales, and is located in the Tweed Shire local government ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

was opened on 10 August 1903 with the running of an excursion train. The first regular passenger train made the journey from Brisbane on 14 September 1903. Due to the increasing popularity of the

motor car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one bil ...

, and the influence of political interests in road transport, the Tweed Heads branch closed in 1961, and the line from Beenleigh to Southport closed in 1964. The new Gold Coast railway opened in 1996, running on a different alignment from Beenleigh to Helensvale. It was extended to

Nerang Nerang is a town and suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Nerang had a population of 17,048 people. Geography The Nerang River flows through the locality from south to east, passing through the town ...

in 1997, and Robina in 1998. In 2009, the line was further extended to

Varsity Lakes Varsity Lakes is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Varsity Lakes had a population of 16,493 people. The suburb was originally known as ''Stephens'' but in 2002 Stephens, Quee ...

. Originally built as a

single-track railway A single-track railway is a railway where trains traveling in both directions share the same track. Single track is usually found on lesser-used rail lines, often branch lines, where the level of traffic is not high enough to justify the c ...

, provisions were made for it to be duplicated. Duplication works commenced in the 2000s and 2010s in stages. The final section to be duplicated was between Coomera and Helensvale stations, with work completed in late 2017, and the new track operational in 2018.

Route

The Gold Coast (Varsity Lakes) railway line is an extension of the Beenleigh line. Trains travel express between Boggo Road / Park Road and

Beenleigh Beenleigh is a town and suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Beenleigh had a population of 8,425 people. A government survey for the new town was conducted in 1866. The town is the terminus for the Beenle ...

stations, with limited stops (currently at Altandi and Loganlea) on the

. During events at the

Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre The Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC , formerly known as the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre) is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose sports facility in Nathan, Queensland, located south-east of the Brisbane central busin ...

, Gold Coast and

Brisbane Airport Brisbane Airport is an international airport serving Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, total amounting to more than 22.7 mill ...

trains will make a stop at Banoon station. Most trains from the Gold Coast run through to Brisbane Airport, allowing tourists and locals access to more international destinations than from the Gold Coast's own airport. Prior to 20 January 2014, services on the Gold Coast Line travelled express between South Bank and Beenleigh, stopping only at Boggo Road / Park Road, Coopers Plains and Loganlea during off-peak hours. From 2025, the line will use

Cross River Rail Cross River Rail (CRR) is an Rapid transit, underground heavy rail project currently under construction in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The project will see the development of a new rail line underneath the Brisbane River, together with th ...

and stop at three new stations in the inner city.

Extension plans

The

South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program The South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program 2010–2031 (SEQIPP) is produced by the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning and outlines estimated infrastructure investment across South East Queensland Australia to 2031. ...

of the Bligh

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government included a proposal to extend the line to the Coolangatta Airport terminal, which was included in the

government's "Connecting SEQ2031" infrastructure plan. The proposed alignment parallels the Pacific Motorway before passing under the threshold of runway 32 at the

Gold Coast Airport Gold Coast Airport (formerly known as Coolangatta Airport; ) is a Domestic airport, domestic and International airport, international Australian airport located at the southern end of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast and approximately ...

and looping around to the terminus, near the airport carpark. Under the plan, land reservations were proposed for possible new infill stations on the existing line between Beenleigh and Ormeau (Yatala is a prime candidate), and at Pimpama, Coomera North, Helensvale North, Parkwood and Merrimac. Triplication north of Beenleigh has also been proposed. The cost of extending the line to the airport has been costed at around $2.8 billion. An extension to the G:link

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system was announced in October 2015. Beginning at Helensvale station, the line was extended to the former terminus at Gold Coast University Hospital, and now continues via the previously built line to Southport, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. The extension was opened in December 2017 in time for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

New stations

During its construction, provisions were made for future stations at Pimpama, Hope Island and Merrimac. Due to low development in these areas, the stations were never built. As part of the

project, three new stations are currently under construction on the existing line, at

Pimpama Pimpama ( ) is a northern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The name is of Aboriginal origin. The suburb contains numerous schools with the first opening in the 1870s. A small farmi ...

Hope Island Hope Island may refer to: Places Antarctica * Hope Island (Graham Land), an island on d'Urville Island * Nadezhdy Island (Hope Island) Australia * Hope Island, Queensland, a suburb of Gold Coast City * Hope Island (Tasmania) * Hope Islands (Queen ...

and Merrimac. four other ones are planned at Tallebudgera, Elanora, Tugun and

, as part of a proposal to extend the line from Varsity Lakes. The Cross River Rail project will allow trains to run every five minutes during peak periods.

Line guide, frequency and services

Typical service frequency on the Gold Coast railway line are two trains per hour. Gold Coast services generally run express between

and Boggo Road / Park Road, with stops at Loganlea and Altandi. The typical travel time between Varsity Lakes and Brisbane City is approximately 79 minutes (to Central). During times of disruption in the inner south of Brisbane (between South Brisbane and Yeerongpilly stations), Gold Coast line trains can be maintained via the Ipswich, then Corinda-Yeerongpilly lines to/from Moorooka. The stopping pattern is usually altered to run express between Roma Street and Beenleigh (with the same limited stops at Altandi and Loganlea stations). Most services generally continue as the Airtrain service to

, stopping at the

International International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

and

Domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

terminals. Passengers for/from the

line change at either Beenleigh, Loganlea or Altandi,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

line at Boggo Road,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Rosewood Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...

/ Springfield lines at Roma Street, Ferny Grove at Bowen Hills and all other Northbound lines at Eagle Junction. Shortcomings were exposed by unexpectedly high passenger take-up during the construction of the Pacific Motorway, exacerbated by the extension of the service to Brisbane Airport but failing to provide for the additional baggage carried by passengers. Before a 2010 upgrade in peak-services, many peak-hour passengers had to stand for much of the 70-minute journey. In 2010, services on the Gold Coast line were the most delayed in the state. Problems were caused by a number of factors, including signal failure and severe weather conditions.

References

External links

Queensland RailTranslink
includes train timetables. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold Coast Railway Line Public transport on the Gold Coast, Queensland Brisbane railway lines Railway lines opened in 1996 Logan City 1996 establishments in Australia