Railway Estate flood map & planning overlays
Only Townsville City has more heritage places than Railway Estate's 58.
Most lots here are flood-mapped. The free check shows how much of one lot the overlay covers.
Free map preview, then PDF reports from $9 - about the price of an iced latte on a public holiday.
A planning-constraint profile of Railway Estate
(Townsville City, QLD) - 4.02 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is highly constrained.
Profile updated 7 November 2026.
Constraint readout
4.02 km² - this suburb is highly constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Railway Estate's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top. Magenta is where aircraft were observed in the sampled period, brightest below 3,000 ft.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Railway Estate properties?
Counts of properties, not share of land, across 1,969 analysed Railway Estate properties; no individual property result is identified.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 1,969 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Railway Estate.
Aircraft noise and flight paths over Railway Estate
The ANEF contour is a published planning forecast and observed overflight is what a sampled tracking feed recorded - neither describes any individual property.
Observed overflight - sampled 4 Sep to 7 Nov 2026
typical observed square 1 a day
Night movements: observed, lowest 2,000 ft - night is sampled as often as day, but night traffic is light, so this is a floor and no rate can be put on it.
How this is measured
Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously, so every figure is a floor: aircraft not captured between samples are not represented. Rates are per 500 m square - the busiest square in the suburb, not a count of flights over the suburb - and a square is only rated where enough traffic was seen to measure it. Altitudes are above mean sea level. Flight paths change with runway use, weather, season and airspace design. This is a record of observed traffic; it is not a noise contour and not a planning control.
Railway Estate at a glance
Schools in and near Railway Estate
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb; it does not rate schools or assign any individual address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
1 school providing primary years and 2 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: inside the suburb
Secondary: inside the suburb
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time.
Which school zone is a Railway Estate address in? Check an address with our free school zone checker.
How Railway Estate is zoned
Selling in Railway Estate? The lot-level zone is the zoning Part 3 of Queensland's Form 2 seller disclosure statement asks for - see our Form 2 planning data guide.
Across its 4.02 km², Railway Estate is highly constrained by planning overlays. About 100% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. There are 58 heritage-listed sites on record, and the dominant land-use zone is Conservation. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 612 m² across 1,948 parcels.
Recent development applications in Railway Estate
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public Townsville City Council register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 8 October 2026.
Previous 12 months: 59 (59% lower in the latest period).
Counts depend on applications that the council publishes and that can be assigned to a suburb. Categories can overlap when one application covers several types. Totals below five and their latest dates are suppressed. Register last synchronised 8 November 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Railway Estate
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Railway Estate suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.
Socio-economic standing
ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.
Score 970, and decile 6 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Railway Estate's 2,871 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of South Townsville - Railway Estate, the wider ABS statistical area containing Railway Estate. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Railway Estate itself.
4,798 in 2001 to 5,618 in 2025, up 17%.
Source: ABS Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), Regional Population (SA2), CC BY 4.0. Small counts are randomly adjusted by the ABS.
Railway Estate data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Zoning | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence |
| Observed flight paths | Observed | adsb.lol, under the Open Database License |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | Townsville City Council |
Profile last materially updated 7 November 2026. See the methodology and full source list. Source data changes over time and critical decisions should be checked with the responsible authority.
Check a specific Railway Estate address
See exactly which overlays touch a single property - the interactive map is free. Need it on paper? A full planning PDF is just $9.
See what's in the $9 report →Aircraft have been seen below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Railway Estate. The report's Aircraft Overflight page narrows that to the address itself: how many aircraft a day, how low, and at what heights.
Published flood models are held over parts of Railway Estate. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$9 with the planning report.
The Terrain Report shows the fall of the block - contours, cross sections and a 3D model of the lot to spin round in your browser (+$9 with the planning report).
Moving here? The Liveability section adds walking times from the address to schools, parks, shops and transport, and the school zones it sits in (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and the indicative soil reactivity range to expect for a Railway Estate lot.
Railway Estate planning - frequently asked
Is Railway Estate flood-prone?
About 100% of Railway Estate falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 57%. Across the suburb, 0% of the 1,969 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk. Published flood models are held over parts of Railway Estate; the free check on the Flood Model Report page says whether one reaches a given address.
Is Railway Estate bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers Railway Estate and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Townsville City average is 50%).
Is Railway Estate under a flight path?
Aircraft were observed below 3,000 ft over about 100% of Railway Estate, in the period sampled (4 Sep 2026 to 7 Nov 2026). The lowest measured aircraft was at 500 ft, with an average of 2,000 ft. At the busiest point in the suburb about 2 aircraft a day were recorded passing over one 500 m square. Traffic is sampled rather than watched continuously and flight paths change with runway use, weather and season; the ANEF contour is the planning instrument.
What is the zoning in Railway Estate?
The dominant planning zone in Railway Estate is Conservation, though the suburb also includes Low Density Residential and Open Space.
Does Railway Estate have heritage-listed places?
Railway Estate has 58 heritage-listed places on record.
Is Railway Estate hilly or flat?
Railway Estate is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 1%. Ground level runs from roughly 1 m to 3 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Railway Estate?
Across 1,948 surveyed parcels in Railway Estate, the median lot size is about 612 m². There are also 52 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Railway Estate have a train station?
There is no train station inside Railway Estate itself. The suburb is served by 14 bus stops.
What is the population of Railway Estate?
At the 2021 Census Railway Estate had 2,871 usual residents, with a median age of 36 and an average household size of 2.2 people. The wider South Townsville - Railway Estate statistical area, which contains Railway Estate, went from 4,798 people in 2001 to 5,618 in 2025, up 17%.
Is Railway Estate an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Railway Estate scores 970 and sits in decile 5 of 10 nationally and decile 6 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Railway Estate?
Median household income in Railway Estate was $1,529 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,510 for the typical suburb in Townsville City. Median rent was $300 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,430 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hermit Park | 1.6 km | 100% | 0% |
| Townsville City | 2.0 km | 69% | 7% |
| South Townsville | 2.2 km | 99% | 0% |
| Oonoonba | 2.2 km | 100% | 0% |
| Hyde Park | 2.4 km | 100% | 0% |
| Rosslea | 2.9 km | 100% | <1% |
| Mysterton | 2.9 km | 100% | 1% |
| Pimlico | 3.2 km | 100% | 13% |
| West End | 3.2 km | 75% | 17% |
| Idalia | 3.3 km | 100% | <1% |