Canberra to Eden

NSW Trainlink operate a daily bus from Canberra to Eden, departing Canberra Civic then Canberra Railway station every afternoon, travelling via Cooma to arrive in Eden in the evening. This bus connects with the train from Sydney at Canberra Railway station. All seats should be booked in advance.

Canberra to Melbourne

Whilst you can travel all the way from Canberra to Melbourne by train (via Goulburn), the most direct routes are co-ordinated bus/train connecting services operated by NSW Trainlink and VLine. NSW Trainlink offer a daily daytime journey by bus from Canberra to Cootamundra - picking up at Canberra Railway Station and at Canberra Jolimont bus terminal, then travelling to Cootamundra. The bus leaves in the mid morning every day of the year. In the early afternoon, you arrive at Cootamundra railway station, and board the Melbourne XPT train service for the afternoon journey to Melbourne Southern Cross station where you arrive in the early evening. The train offers first and economy class seating and also has a cafe bar from which you can buy meals, snacks and drinks. This is a connecting service so you don't need to worry if the bus is running late, and you can book one ticket for the full Canberra to Melbourne journey. All seats are reserved, so you must book in advance NSW Trainlink offer a daily daytime journey by bus from Canberra to Yass Junction - picking up at Canberra Railway Station and at Canberra Jolimont bus terminal, then travelling to Yass Junction station. The bus leaves in the mid morning every day of the year. In the early afternoon, you arrive at Yass Junction railway station, and board the Melbourne XPT train service for the afternoon journey to Melbourne Southern Cross station where you arrive in the early evening. This is a connecting service so you don't need to worry if the bus is running late, and you can book one ticket for the full Canberra to Melbourne journey. NSW Trainlink will try to convince you to stay on the bus all the way to Cootamundra before changing to the train, so to book the Yass Junction connection you will have to call the NSW Trainlink call centre and insist on the connection via Yass Junction. All seats are reserved, so you must book in advance You can also travel with VLine who offer a daily bus service from Canberra Jolimont bus station to Albury. At Albury station you change to a Vline passenger train for the remainder of the journey to Melbourne Southern Cross station. This service runs during the daytime, but departs at different times of the day depending on the day of the week. All services, both bus and train, are fully reserved, so you must book in advance. The train offers first and economy class seating and also has a cafe bar from which you can buy meals, snacks and drinks. Twice each week, you can travel with VLine by bus from Canberra Jolimont via Cooma and Orbost to Bairnsdale in Eastern Victoria, and then change to a Vline passenger train from Bairnsdale for the remainder of the journey to Melbourne. This is a longer journey than the two alternatives above, but is does offer a scenic alternative journey through some of Australias more mountainous Snowy River country. The bus and train offer only economy class seats and have no onboard food service, but there meal breaks along the way. All seats are reserved and you should book in advance. You can travel from Canberra to Melbourne all the way by train - but it's a bit longer than the co-ordinated bus/train services. You can catch the NSW Trainlink Canberra Xplorer train from Canberra station to Goulburn that departs early in the morning and takes a little over an hour and a half to reach Goulburn. After a one and a half to two hour wait you then catch the Sydney to Melbourne XPT train for the journey to Melbourne. You then travel through the day to arrive in Melbourne late that evening. You can also do this trip by travelling overnight - departing Canberra late in the afternoon and having about a 5 hour layover in Goulburn before travelling overnight to arrive in Melbourne early the next morning. All these trains (Canberra to Goulburn and Goulburn to Melbourne) offer first and economy class seats and have an on board cafe car from which you can purchase meals, snacks and drinks. The overnight train to Melbourne also offers twin bunk sleeping berths. All trains are fully reserved and you must book in advance.

Canberra to Sydney

NSW Trainlink operates three trains each day from Canberra station to Sydney Central station. Canberra XPLorer trains depart Canberra (Kingston) station early every morning, around midday and again in the late afternoon and arrive Sydney Central a little over four hours later. Trains also call at Goulburn and other major towns along the way. To access Sydney Airport, you can change trains at either Campbelltown or Sydney Central to boar a T8 line train via the Airport stations. Canberra Xplorer trains all have on-board catering and first and economy class seats. All seats are reserved and you must book in advance.

Canberra to Wagga Wagga

NSW Trainlink offer a daily daytime journey by bus from Canberra to Cootamundra - picking up at Canberra Railway Station and at Canberra Jolimont bus terminal, then travelling to Cootamundra. The bus leaves in the mid morning every day of the year. In the early afternoon, you arrive at Cootamundra railway station, and board the Melbourne XPT train service for the afternoon journey to Wagga Wagga station where you arrive in the early afternoon. The train offers first and economy class seating and also has a cafe bar from which you can buy meals, snacks and drinks. This is a connecting service so you don't need to worry if the bus is running late, and you can book one ticket for the full Canberra to Melbourne journey. All seats are reserved, so you must book in advance. Alternatively, on some days there is an afternoon bus departure from Canberra Railway station that picks up at Civic and runs direct to Wagga arriving in the mid evening. Once again, these services must be booked in advance.