Great service
Good value for money
Unfortunately, the train fleet need to be urgently updated . 35 years old trains with no wiFi or power points to charge mobile devices is unacceptable specially as the journeys are long distance .

Approximate cost: $350

had a nice peaceful trip on the countrylink- there is a buffet/cafeteria on the carriage so if you get hungry or thirsty it is not far to go.had a quiet relaxing time ,just brought ticket at station,i did not need to book.

Ive travelled on country link trains alittle over twice,but twice majoraly,through to Brisbane and also to Nambucca Heads from sydney,which wasnt too bad.food is alittle expensive although it alot of places it is now and its wise to bring your own.The trip to Queensland wasnt to good as its 8 hours we went through the night and its just impossible to sleep.

The only way to travel on a long trip. Sit and admire the view, work your Laptop or talk on your mobile. There is a Buffet for you to eat Lunch etc. and even Alcohol and Magazines are available. When I travel by myself I have found such Interesting people sitting next to me.

Approximate cost: $4 x FREE trips Concession

I've used their web booking system to book a trip and that was really great, they send the itinary to your email and things are just easy to do/use. Maybe if they use current technologies to improve thing it would be better. I haven't tried riding one of their trains for a long distance trip but hope to do so sometime. oh and the trip i booked i later cancelled because I couldn't go for some reason.

CountryLink or should it be called CountryStink, is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, with services through to Brisbane and Melbourne. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity. I tell you all this for a reason as its the back story to my review.

CountryLink operates rail services using two types of rollingstock - the XPT and the Xplorer. CountryLink was formed as a business unit of the State Rail Authority in 1989 to operate all non-metropolitan long distance passenger services. It inherited, yes inherited a fleet of XPT and locomotive hauled passenger trains. They were all mostly built between 1981 and 1984, and the design was based on a British train,designed in 1976. During the Greiner State Government in 1988, the publication of the Booz Allen Hamilton report into NSW rail services recommended closing all country passenger services as they were considered economically unviable, however this was politically not feasible. So no Goverment in 30 years has had the vision, inspiration or desire to replace, renew or build NSW rail.

So in the last year I have taken CountryLink Services to Melbourne and Brisbane ( WOMO Receipts available) I generally love train travel and especially enjoy taking trains around Europe, as it's easier than going out to airports, as stations are generally central, faster than checkin and waiting, as you arrive and board, and relax to the end destination. Usually when you take a train like the European ones it's nicer, faster and more relaxing, and allot more comfortable than flying.

Back to my CountryLink journeys, the words Horrendous, appalling and disgraceful, are a few that come to mind. This is not about the staff they are fabulous and serve very well, they certainly have allot of time to look after you as rail and rolling stock age and disrepair mean the trains rarely get over 80 klms an hour. No high speed here, no luxury seating or tray service as you walk through four cars to get to the canteen.

The rail needs a big vision and 900 million in infrastructure investment. Could you imagine arriving 15 mins before departure at Central station Sydney and getting on an ICE or Thalys style train speeding of on time and getting up to speeds of 350 klms an hour while served a meal tray, the National Pollies get off and board at the Canberra stop and two hours later you arrive in the heart of Melbourne, not 35 klms out or even more if you fly into Avalon. Maybe it's because of the airlines that the rail has been neglected and run down.

What happens now is at times terrifying, when you know that much of the rail is sinking and that sleepers are falling away due to poor placement and subsidence. The rail cars are clunky and shaky, they have been redressed but they are over 30 years old, planes and cars all are retired before this age. It's embarrassing the Governments have kept the trains busy mostly filled with Pensioners on their free travel quota, which I don't have a problem with at all. What I have a problem with is putting these dear old souls on sub standard old trains. Give them a real experince and don't make them sleep in seats, but get them to Brisbane, or Melbourne in around 4 hours, it's all so possible.

I suppose my review is saying that it's time, for a State Government to put new high speed dual carriage modern trains between Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane. To utilize public Private partnerships, get Someone like Richard Branson on board he also owns railroads. It's Time.

IT'S TIME!

I have used this service twice, once to Brisbane and also to Griffiths. What a pity I cannot describe it as a great train journey. Unfortunately the trains are showing their age and what should be a super fast service is very slow. They do provide food on board and afternoon tea at reasonable prices. Some of the staff really do try to do a good job. On both journeys it was necessary to leave the train and complete the journey by coach. The driver on the coach to Brisbane was one of the rudest I have ever met - not what you want to encountered after a tiring day spent on a train.
Countrylink suffers from lack of funds which results in the train (and the track) being out of date. The booking service is easy.

First class is the best way to travel. Leg space was ok. The staff were really nice. Food prices are high.

I would not like to travel in economy, the leg room in first class was not much. It was a good trip to QLD. Coming back it was really cold.

Never knew about countrylink and have been travelling between Newcastle and Sydney a bit lately. Love the fact you can book your own seat and grab some lunch on the train if you need to. Will be trying economy next time as 1st class is about $7 more per ticket and you don't really get more than extra leg room and a bigger seat. Loving this service, it's about half an hour quicker than the normal train.

I've only used them twice and the second time it was delayed 20 mins due to track work.

Approximate cost: $28