Due to ongoing illegal protest activity in the rail corridor in the Hunter, from Wednesday July 10, additional buses will provide passengers with more services on the Hunter Line each evening until early morning.
Buses will be on site from 4:30pm on weekdays and on weekends until trains resume at 7am the following morning. Bus marshals will be stationed at Newcastle Interchange, Maitland and Hamilton.
Between 15 to 20 buses will operate on six different routes covering all stations as follows:
• Telarah – all stations to Newcastle Interchange and return
• Dungog – all stations to Maitland and return
• Warabrook Station to Newcastle University shuttle
• Scone – all stations to Lochinvar, Maitland, Victoria Street, then all stations to Beresfield, Warabrook, then all stations to Newcastle Interchange and return
• Dungog – all stations to Maitland, Victoria Street, then all stations to Beresfield, Warabrook, then all stations to Newcastle Interchange and return
• Singleton – all stations to Lochinvar, Maitland, Victoria Street, then all stations to Beresfield, Warabrook, then all stations to Newcastle Interchange and return.
The buses will continue to run each night until Tuesday 16 July.
Passengers may experience some delays and gaps in services as we grapple with a bus driver shortage and routes may change, but Transport for NSW will do its best to provide as many services as possible.
Passengers are advised to allow extra travel time and take alternative transport options where available.
The Hunter Line has been substantially disrupted by illegal protest activity since Tuesday 25 June, with more than 20 incidents that have stopped rail traffic.
To date NSW Police have made 31 arrests and laid 90 charges.
Transport for NSW is assessing the situation daily and taking the advice of NSW Police.
It is not clear how long the illegal protest disruption will run, but we are committed to keeping passengers updated as the situation progresses.
A risk-based approach was used to inform the decision to shut down overnight passenger rail services, 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.