The Exhibition railway line is a special-purpose

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, the state capital of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It conveys

Queensland Rail City network Railways in South East Queensland consist of a large passenger and freight rail network centred on Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Suburban and interurban passenger rail services are operated by Queensland Rai ...

passengers during the Royal Queensland Show (locally known as "the

Ekka The Ekka is the annual agricultural show of Queensland, Australia. Its formal title is the Royal Queensland Show, and it is held at the Brisbane Showgrounds. It was originally called the Brisbane Exhibition, but it is more commonly known as the ...

") in August and rare other special events held in the showgrounds. It is informally known as the Ekka Loop. Goods trains also use the Exhibition line to access the Normanby

marshalling yard A classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, and the former Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway y ...

and to travel across Brisbane while avoiding city stations and congestion between

Bowen Hills Bowen Hills is an inner north-eastern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bowen Hills had a population of 4,898 people. Geography Bowen Hills is by road from the Brisbane centr ...

and Roma Street stations. QR Traveltrain long-distance passenger services similarly use the Exhibition line to arrive at and depart from Roma Street station. Empty City network and Traveltrain sets also use the line to access the Normanby train washing facility and the Mayne locomotive and electric depot.

History

When the Roma St to Sandgate railway opened in 1882, it had been constructed via Normanby to avoid the need for land resumptions through the Brisbane CBD. When passenger trains were diverted to the new line via Central station in 1890, traffic diminished significantly, and the section between Exhibition station and Mayne along with Normanby station was closed in 1900.Kerr, J. 'Brunswick St, Bowen Hills & Beyond' ARHS 1988 Traffic on the QR system continued to grow, and so the closed section was reopened in 1911 to allow goods trains from the North Coast line to use that route to reach Roma St, the main goods yard in Brisbane. When the locomotive and carriage sheds were relocated from Roma St to Mayne in 1927, the line was duplicated to deal with the additional empty trains travelling to and from Brisbane's main terminating station. The line was electrified in 1982 to allow empty electric units to travel to and from Roma St. In 2023, the line was realigned as part of the

Cross River Rail Cross River Rail (CRR) is an Rapid transit, underground heavy rail project currently under construction in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The project will see the development of a new rail line underneath the Brisbane River, together with th ...

project in what was described as one of the longest and most complicated pieces of track work ever undertaken in South East Queensland. Works included a new 150-metre bridge outside the

Brisbane Showgrounds The Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is a multi-purpose venue located in Bowen Hills, Queensland, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1875, it hosts more than 250 events each year, the larges ...

Line guide and services

Services stop at city stations ( Roma Street, Central and

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestri ...

) before the loop leaves the main line in the middle of platform 4 of

, and therefore can not stop here for passengers. The service runs in both directions. Passengers for/from the

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

, Doomben,

Caboolture Caboolture () is a town and suburb in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the northern side of the Caboolture River. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 29,534 people. Geography Caboolture is ...

, Ferny Grove, Nambour and Gympie North,

Redcliffe Peninsula The Redcliffe Peninsula is a peninsula located in the City of Moreton Bay in the northeast of the Brisbane metropolitan area in Queensland, Australia. The area covers the suburbs of Clontarf, Kippa-Ring, Margate, Moreton Island, Newport, R ...

and Shorncliffe lines change at Central or

, and

Beenleigh Beenleigh is a town and suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Beenleigh had a population of 8,425 people. A government survey for the new town was conducted in 1866. The town is the terminus for the Beenle ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Gold Coast,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Rosewood Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...

and Springfield lines at Roma Street.

References

External links

Queensland RailTranslink
* {{Public transport in Queensland Railway loop lines Public transport in Brisbane Brisbane railway lines 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Australia