Lowest CO2€82.84
- Queensland Rail QR928906:126h 9m12:21South Brisbane railway stationMackay railway station
Door to door 6h 53mCO2 26.5 kgChanges 0Refundable
Brisbane to Mackay train
Trains from Brisbane to Mackay start at €100.44 and take 6h 18m at their fastest.
The Trains from Brisbane to Mackay starts at €100.44 and takes 6h 18m door to door, run by 1 operator over 804 km, with around 7 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 60 days before departure.
- 6h 18mDoor to door
- 5h 34mMoving
- €100.44From
- 26.5 kgCO2
The cheapest and the fastest on September 29, 2026
Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.
Rail operators
Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.
| Operator | From | Fastest | Typical speed | Flexibility | On board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Queensland Rail | €82.84 | 6h 10m | 140 km/h | Refundable | Power outlets, Wi-Fi |
Mackay is small enough to walk across, so almost anywhere downtown works. We still do not sell the room.
Rooms within reach of Mackay railway station
Sort by distance from Mackay railway station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Mackay on AgodaOr compare on Booking.com
Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.
When to book Brisbane to Mackay
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €118.1490 days
- €64.4560 days
- €71.5345 days
- €87.4630 days
- €83.9221 days
- €102.2114 days
- €130.537 days
- €180.093 days
- €215.491 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €64.45.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 234 percent. The most expensive point is €215.49, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- €107.52Sun
- €96.31Mon
- €98.08Tue
- €98.67Wed
- €131.71Thu
- €102.21Fri
- €128.17Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.
Brisbane
Rail
- South Brisbane railway station
- Alderley
- RBWH busway station
Mackay
Rail
- Mackay railway station
What the journey actually looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 56% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 44% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 804 km against 804 km in a straight line, a detour of 1 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, Gladstone. The gap between arriving and leaving is 50 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 19 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is ours to fix and you are rebooked at no charge.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Brisbane at 06:12 and the last at 17:18, across 7 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Trains against the other ways to make this journey
The same corridor, door to door, with every mode that runs it.
| Mode | Door to door | Moving | At the ends | From | CO2 | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flight | 4h 41m | 1h 31m | 3h 10m | €96.31 | 203.7 kg | 2 |
| Train | 6h 18m | 5h 34m | 44m | €100.44 | 26.5 kg | 7 |
Questions about Brisbane to Mackay
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does the Train from Brisbane to Mackay take?
The Train from Brisbane to Mackay takes 6h 18m door to door, of which 5h 34m is spent moving. The route runs 804 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.
How much does the Train from Brisbane to Mackay cost?
The Train from Brisbane to Mackay starts at €100.44 for one passenger, checked on September 29, 2026. A typical fare is €96.59. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Train from Brisbane to Mackay?
1 operators run the Train from Brisbane to Mackay: Queensland Rail. Between them they file around 7 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Train from Brisbane to Mackay use?
The Train from Brisbane to Mackay leaves from South Brisbane railway station and arrives at Mackay railway station. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
Is the Train the best way from Brisbane to Mackay?
Traveling from Brisbane to Mackay by Flight costs €96.31 and takes 4h 41m door to door, against 6h 18m by Train. Which is better depends on whether the money or the hours matter more on this trip. The comparison table on this page shows every mode side by side.
When should I book the Train from Brisbane to Mackay?
Fares for the Train from Brisbane to Mackay bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €64.45. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 234 percent, measured on September 29, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Train from Brisbane to Mackay produce?
The Train from Brisbane to Mackay produces about 26.5 kg of CO2 per passenger over 804 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
What is provided on board the Train from Brisbane to Mackay?
Operators on the Train from Brisbane to Mackay publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 6h 18m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.
Where these numbers come from
Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.
Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Brisbane to Mackay on September 11, 2026: 804 km of route against 804 km in a straight line, 7 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €100.44, and 6h 18m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
Related journeys
Mackay to Brisbane trainCompare every mode from Brisbane to MackayBrisbane to Mackay flightBundaberg to Mackay trainCairns to Mackay trainGladstone to Mackay trainHervey Bay to Mackay trainBundaberg to Mackay trainCairns to Mackay trainGladstone to Mackay trainHervey Bay to Mackay trainRockhampton to Mackay trainSunshine Coast to Mackay trainTownsville to Mackay trainRockhampton to Mackay train
Plenty of what is worth seeing sits outside Mackay and elsewhere in Australia. None of it is ours to sell.
What to book in Mackay before you go
The tickets worth having in advance, because the line at the door is usually the whole morning.
See Mackay on KlookOr browse GetYourGuide
Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.