Cheapest€29.49
- Queensland Rail QR560710:282h 1m12:29Cairns railway stationTownsville railway station
Door to door 2h 45mCO2 9.3 kgChanges 0Refundable
Cairns to Townsville train
Trains from Cairns to Townsville start at €32.79 and take 2h 45m at their fastest.
Check dates and fares
Fares and seats move by the day. Price Cairns to Townsville on the date you actually want, rather than on the date this page was built.
The Trains from Cairns to Townsville starts at €32.79 and takes 2h 45m door to door, run by 1 operator over 283 km, with around 4 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 30 days before departure.
- 2h 45mDoor to door
- 2h 1mMoving
- €32.79 to €75.14From
- 06:41 to 18:55First and last departure
- 4Per day
- 9.3 kgCO2
First and last are taken from the services we sell on October 5, 2026. The return direction keeps its own timetable and is not these times reversed.
€32.79 to €75.14 for one passenger across the 14 departure dates priced here. The low end is one day, not every day. Worked out from this corridor rather than held for anybody. The operator sets the price on the day.
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about €54.79Tue15
- about €60.84Wed16
- about €61.94Thu17
- about €60.29Fri18
- about €75.14Sat19
- about €53.69Sun20
- about €37.74Mon21
- about €38.29Tue22
- about €40.49Wed23
- about €57.54Thu24
- about €44.89Fri25
- about €47.64Sat26
- about €46.54Sun27
- about €32.79Mon28
Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.
The cheapest and the fastest on October 5, 2026
Rail operators
| Operator | From | Fastest | Typical speed | Flexibility | On board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Queensland Rail | €29.49 | 2h 42m | 140 km/h | Refundable | Power outlets, Wi-Fi |
The train gets you into Townsville. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
A room in Townsville for the night the train gets in
Sort by distance from Townsville railway station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Townsville 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 Cairns to Townsville
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €33.7790 days
- €31.1460 days
- €33.1845 days
- €27.8430 days
- €29.4921 days
- €31.4114 days
- €36.137 days
- €53.833 days
- €49.701 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €27.84.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 93 percent. The most expensive point is €53.83, 3 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 30 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.
- €43.21Sun
- €31.41Mon
- €38.29Tue
- €37.31Wed
- €45.57Thu
- €44.39Fri
- €46.16Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
Cairns
Rail
- Cairns railway station
- Kuranda railway station
- Redlynch railway station
Townsville
Rail
- Townsville railway station
- Old Townsville Railway Station
What the journey actually looks like
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 283 km against 283 km in a straight line, a detour of 2 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Cairns at 06:41 and the last at 18:55, across 4 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
| Mode | Door to door | Moving | At the ends | From | CO2 | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Train | 2h 45m | 2h 1m | 44m | €32.79 | 9.3 kg | 4 |
| Flight | 3h 57m | 47m | 3h 10m | €31.41 | 71.6 kg | 9 |
Questions about Cairns to Townsville
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 Cairns to Townsville take?
The Train from Cairns to Townsville takes 2h 45m door to door, of which 2h 1m is spent moving. The route runs 283 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 Cairns to Townsville cost?
The Train from Cairns to Townsville starts at €32.79 for one passenger, as of September 14, 2026. A typical fare is €35.27. 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 Cairns to Townsville?
1 operators run the Train from Cairns to Townsville: Queensland Rail. Between them they file around 4 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 Cairns to Townsville use?
The Train from Cairns to Townsville leaves from Cairns railway station and arrives at Townsville 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 Cairns to Townsville?
Traveling from Cairns to Townsville by Flight costs €31.41 and takes 3h 57m door to door, against 2h 45m 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 Cairns to Townsville?
Fares for the Train from Cairns to Townsville bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €27.84. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 93 percent, measured on September 14, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Train from Cairns to Townsville produce?
The Train from Cairns to Townsville produces about 9.3 kg of CO2 per passenger over 283 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 Cairns to Townsville?
Operators on the Train from Cairns to Townsville publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 2h 45m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Cairns to Townsville on September 14, 2026: 283 km of route against 283 km in a straight line, 4 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €32.79, and 2h 45m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
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Being on the water gives Townsville a set of days out that do not start at a station. We do not sell those either.
Day trips out of Townsville and across Australia
Day trips that leave Townsville in the morning and cover a good part of Australia by evening.
See Townsville on KlookOr browse GetYourGuide
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