Networks

QR Network operates an open-access railway providing Queensland with rail and communications connections that link major metropolitan areas to remote regions, rich mining provinces to export markets and freight suppliers to customer markets.

Explore the map to find out more about our rail systems.

Primary market segments

The single largest commodity transported on our network

Includes containerised and bulk freight, livestock, minerals and other commodities

Primarily metropolitan passenger transport, but also freight and coal

Intermodal transport via the Brisbane Multi-User Term

  • Coal

    Coal

    We manage the largest export coal rail network in Australia transporting more than 160 million tonnes of coal from Central Queensland mines to six ports each year.

  • Freight

    Freight

    Our bulk and containerised freight transport network runs the length of Queensland’s coast and reaches inland to serve the rich North West Minerals province and regional communities.

  • South East Qld

    South East Qld

    Our South East Queensland network services passenger, freight and coal trains traversing the seven separate rail lines that radiate across the region from the Brisbane CBD.

  • Interstate

    Interstate

    Nearly 270,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers transit the Brisbane Multi-User Terminal annually, to supply the Brisbane metropolitan retail market.

More about our networks

QR Network

Our rail network spans the length of Queensland and extends well into the middle of the state, providing rail and communications connections that connect major metropolitan areas to remote regions; rich mining provinces to export markets; and freight suppliers to customer markets centres.

QR Network offers proven solutions and innovative approaches to rail infrastructure needs. We are focused on matching capacity to customer demand and have specialist capabilities in rail infrastructure design, delivery and management.

Technology and innovation underpin this performance, in areas ranging from broadband wireless telecommunications applications to signalling design.

Our experts design and deliver reliable infrastructure, we forge partnerships across the supply chain and with governments and we smooth the way to transport high-value assets where they are needed, when they are needed.

Markets

We transport a diverse range of products for our customers, across our 13 rail systems to six ports. On any given day, we will transport everything from coal to passengers, cattle to zinc, and iron ore to fresh groceries. Our network is positioned to support the major mining regions of Queensland, the major metropolitan areas in the Southeast and the coastal and inland communities across the state.

Access

QR Network operates an open-access railway that is available to all accredited rail operators as outlined in our Access Undertaking with the Queensland Competition Authority.  

System Maps and Line Diagrams

System Maps and Line Diagrams can be viewed either on system pages, or on the Downloads page.

 

Infrastructure Programs

2009 Mount Isa Master Plan

The Mount Isa System Rail Infrastructure Master Plan, released in July 2009, presents a number of commercially based rail infrastructure options which highlight the ongoing potential for growth in the region.

Find Out More

2008 COALRail Master Plan

The COALRail Master Plan provides transparency on future capital investment in the Central Queensland coal region and the Western System in Southern Queensland.

Find Out More

Did you know?

On 1 September 2008, QR Network Pty Ltd became a stand alone subsidiary company of QR Ltd.

The Australian rail industry is open to competition and in Queensland, rail operators can apply to use QR Network’s 10,000km of narrow gauge, standard gauge and dual gauge track.

Queensland’s vast rail network is owned by QR and supported by state of the art infrastructure and systems. The rail network is valued at some $AUD6 billion.

Road produces approximately 4.5 times more CO2 equivalent (green house gas emissions) than rail.

Rail is a much safer form of transport than road (road has approximately 40 times the amount of transport fatalities than rail).

More facts and figures

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