The best paid Queensland Rail driver made more than $210,000 last year after working more than 918 hours of overtime.
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That is the equivalent of 17 extra hours worked every week of the year.
The top five best-paid Queensland Rail train drivers earned between $179,711 and $210,316 last year, by working between 560.81 and 918.4 hours of overtime.
However, Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the latest figures showed a focus on recruitment had reduced overtime claims from the rail operator's hardest working drivers and guards.
In 2017-18, QR's top five drivers collectively worked 261 fewer overtime hours, a 6 per cent decrease compared with the top five driver overtime claims the previous year.
Mr Bailey said the decrease was better again for train guards, with the overtime claimed by the top five best-remunerated guards dropping by 456 hours in 2017/18, or almost 13 per cent.
"All QR staff are required to work weekends and public holidays and are paid appropriately for this time away from their families," he said.
Mr Bailey said the drop in overtime hours was good news but more drivers and guards were needed to come into the system to bring Queensland Rail's overtime bills down.
Tackling an unsustainable over-reliance on overtime was a key recommendation from the Strachan inquiry, which was sparked following hundreds of cancellations beginning in October 2016 which revealed a shortage of drivers at Queensland Rail.
The inquiry recommended hiring 200 drivers and 200 guards to reduce the reliance on overtime.
Mr Bailey said Queensland Rail ran eight training schools this year to increase the number of drivers.
"Training new drivers and guards is very involved because of the high-pressure situations they have to be ready to face," he said.
"QR has managed to get the average training time for recruits down from 18 months to 13 months.
"Drivers and guards are responsible for the safety and well-being of up to 1000 people at any one time and need to be resilient, with a high ability to problem solve during emergency situations."
Since October 2016, there has been a net increase of 53 drivers and 95 guards.
There are another 92 drivers and 26 guards in training.
LNP deputy leader Tim Mander said train drivers earning $200,000 a year was "beyond the pale".
"This shows that the unions are totally controlling this government, they have maintained a closed shop with regards to the number of drivers, so they could have this enormous amount of overtime," he said.
