Would it be wise or feasible to take the train from Sydney to Canberra? Or would it be better to hop a flight?

We're planning to go to Canberra for a couple days and are looking at the ANA University or the Kingston area to stay in but I'm a little concerned about taking the train (and where I would catch the train at in Sydney) versus a flight.

Thanks

LN

Hello LN,

Although I've never done it myself, I think it would make sense to catch the train between Sydney and Canberra.

An Internet search reveals that the ride takes 4 hours, and costs about 70 AUD for a 1st class seat and about 50 AUD for an economy class seat.

Train departs from Sydney Central station which, as the name suggests, is centrally located. I've departed from there for the Blue Mountains several times.

An Internet search also reveals that the flight takes 50 minutes. However, if you count the time that it takes to get from downtown Sydney to the airport, check in, clear security, and getting from Canberra's airport to downtown Canberra, I wonder if flying would be any faster than catching a train.

A quick perusal of Qantas's website suggest the flight costs anywhere from 90 AUD to 190 AUD. (Add to that transport from downtown Sydney to the airport, and from Canberra's airport to Canberra's downtown.)

Here's a map of the rail route from Sydney to Canberra:

http://www.railpage.org.au/railmaps/viceast.htm

Here's a map of Sydney's train system:

http://www.cityrail.info/networkmaps/mainmap.jsp

Canberra is beyond Moss Vale on the Southern Highlands Line on the above mentioned map.

If you zoom in on the above mentioned map, you can get larger view of the train lines that serve Sydney's downtown. Central Station is south of Town Hall Station:

http://www.cityrail.info/networkmaps/map_06.jsp

Central Station is situated at the corner of Eddy Avenue and Chalmers Street. Across Eddy Avenue from the station is Belmore Park. Here is Fodors' map of downtown Sydney:

http://fodors.com/miniguides/mgstati.../mgresults.cfm

You can see all of the grey lines (railway tracks) converging at Central Station, just south of Eddy Avenue and just south of the unnamed green square the represents Belmore Park.

Here's a website called "How to travel by train in Australia"

http://www.seat61.com/Australia.htm

Scroll down to the heading called "Countrylink 'XPT' and 'Xplorer'."

Here's a website that has timetables, fares, and booking information for the CountryLink network, to which the Sydney-Canberra line belongs:

http://www.countrylink.info/

I never made prior reservations for travel from sydney to the Blue Mountains or from the Blue Mountains to Sydney. I just used to buy my ticket at the station. Since I've never travelled between Sydney and Canberra, I cannot say how important reservations may or may not be.

As I recall, the ticket booths were closest to the Eddy Avenue entrance.

Sydney's Central Station is large. It's clearly sign posted, and you should have no trouble finding your way around it. If you're carrying luggage, which I imagine you will be, keep in mind that getting to your departure platform may involve a certain amount of schlepping your luggage up and down escalators and such.

Since Canberra has a population of only 300,000, I'm guessing Cenberra's main train station and its downtown will not be intimidating in terms of size and complexity.

Alan, Neil, et al know more about this than I do, but they're sleeping right now.