What about swapping the Casino & Brisbane XPTs?
Currently the Casino XPT is a day train terminating at Casino at about 6:45PM, then returning to Brisbane as a night train.
The Brisbane XPT is a night train terminating at Roma St just before 7AM, and returning at 7:30AM as a day train.
I wonder if there is scope to rejig things so that the Casino XPT runs overnight from Sydney, and the Brisbane XPT is a day train terminating in Brisbane in the evening (probably around 9PM), before returning to Sydney as an overnight service.
The problem is that this will probably cause "knock on" effects which will require retiming of the Melbourne, Grafton & Dubbo XPTs, due to the very tight turnarounds and high utilisation of the XPT. It is impossible to do a Sydney - Brisbane - Sydney turn in under 24 hours, so the train returning from Brisbane then operates onward (I think to Melbourne, but open to correction). Change which service it is runs right through to Brisbane and the timing of the Melbourne train in particular also has to change.
I am also of the opinion that Casino is a bit of a daft place to terminate an XPT service, and would rather see the Casino XPT continue either to Brisbane, or onwards to at least Lismore on the branch line. Byron Bay might also be an option. I definitely do not advocate re-opening right through to Murwillumbah, but I think it is very silly that it doesn't go at least as far as Lismore.
Thoughts?