Orange community having a say on rail services

The community of Orange and the surrounding Central West region is having a say as the NSW Government considers future passenger rail services.

Transport for NSW will host a forum this Thursday 31 October to collect feedback on how the community wishes to travel around and out of the region, and what types of services would best meet that need into the future.

The community also has the chance to provide feedback via www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/orange-passenger-rail 

The survey is open until 22 November and more than 360 submissions have been made so far.

This Thursday’s forum will be held between 12pm and 3pm, and around 80 stakeholders have been invited, representing local government, community, Aboriginal, education, business, health sectors and rail groups.

Invitees also include the Orange Rail Action Group, Rail Action Bathurst, councils of Orange, Forbes, Parkes, Bathurst, Blayney, Cowra, Mid-Western and Lithgow as well as Progress Associations representing smaller villages within those areas.

Following the forum, members of the public are invited to attend a drop-in session between 4pm and 6pm at the Greenhouse function room located at the Orange Ex-Services Club.

A team from Transport will be on hand to engage with the community, record their feedback and answer questions.

Transport’s Acting Director West Holly Davies encouraged as many people as possible to have a say in order to get a better understanding of community views.

“We want to gather specific information on community needs, expectations and travel preferences to help inform decision making about potential improvements to rail and other transport connections,” Ms Davies said.

“Patronage, timetable and journey times, fares and crewing requirements will also be considered as part of any future design of services,” she said.

“While the existing Bathurst Bullet train service provides an important and popular daily return train connection to Sydney, we are considering all the possible options for Orange and the wider Central West.”

Fast facts:

• Sydney Trains operates a twice daily Intercity service between Sydney and Bathurst on the Blue Mountains Line, which is commonly referred to as the Bathurst Bullet. Prior to 1 July 2024 the service was operated by NSW TrainLink.
• Sydney Trains Intercity services are part of the Opal network, where customers can turn up and go and tap on and off to travel.

• NSW TrainLink operates a daily XPT train service between Sydney and Dubbo via Orange and a weekly Xplorer train service between Sydney and Broken Hill via Orange.
• There are daily NSW TrainLink coach connections to and from Orange to Bathurst that provide connections with Bathurst Intercity services. There are also several coach connections from Orange to Lithgow daily, where passengers join Intercity train services to Sydney.
• NSW TrainLink operates all regional train and coach services, including those that serve Orange. Advance booking is required on all NSW TrainLink services, including those that connect with Bathurst Intercity services.