Overnight Hunter Line passenger services continue to be suspended due to ongoing illegal protest activity

Due to safety risks relating to ongoing illegal protest activity in the rail corridor in the Hunter, buses will continue to replace trains overnight.  

 

From 7pm Monday 1 July until it is safe to reopen the line on Tuesday morning, buses will replace passenger trains between Newcastle Interchange and Dungog, and Newcastle Interchange and Scone.   

 

This will impact passengers travelling on all intercity services and some XPT services, which will still run but to reduced speeds through the impacted area.  

 

Passengers are advised to allow extra travel time and take alternative transport options where available. 

 

Protesters leaving debris on the line or damaging infrastructure may delay the reopening of the line on Tuesday morning and therefore impact school services.  

 

School students will be prioritised with the temporary bussing arrangements.  

Transport for NSW is constantly assessing the situation and taking the advice of NSW Police and critical surveillance teams.  

 

It is not clear how long the illegal protest disruption will occur, but we are committed to keeping passengers updated as the situation progresses. 

 

This follows the decision to shut down overnight passenger rail services over the weekend based on a risk assessment between Transport for NSW, NSW Police and the Australian Rail Track Corporation, and intelligence around further protest activity. 

 

This decision is not taken lightly and is to ensure the safety of the travelling public, our train crew, and emergency service workers that need to enter the rail corridor to conduct rescues.  

Passengers are advised to check real time transport apps for the latest information.