Gold Coast railway line
The Gold Coast railway line is an interurban railway line operated by Queensland Rail in Queensland, Australia, connecting Brisbane with the Gold Coast. The line currently includes stops at 17 stations. In 2021, a journey from Central station to the terminus of this line is scheduled to take 1 hour 23 minutes. Several new stations along the existing line and an extension south are planned. History The Beenleigh railway line opened in 1885 before being extended as the South Coast Line to Southport in 1889. A branch line to Tweed Heads, New South Wales was opened in 1903 with excursion trains travelling the line on 10 August 1903 and the first passenger train making the journey from Brisbane on 14 September 1903. Due to the increasing popularity of the motor car, and 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 on a different alignment from Beenleigh to Helensvale in 1996, Nerang in 1997, and Robina in 1998. In 2009, the line was extended to Varsity Lakes. Originally built as a single-track railway, the rail tracks on Gold Coast line were