DEAR News Of The Area,
REGARDING the story “Questions as train cut for coaches” on page 3 of NOTA on Friday 14 May, I would like to congratulate the journalist for bringing up this news.
Some people were under the wrong impression, prior to this article, thinking that the reason for the loss of services was due to track upgrades.
When reading the reasons on the NSW Trains site, as well as the media releases, it is not the track that needs any upgrade.
The fact is, and it is easily visible on the NSW Trains web site, that the new funding for the trains was provided in 2019, and here we are, in 2025, having to reduce XPT services as:
1) The trains have still yet to arrive, some six years post-funding;
2) The services are being reduced as the XPTs are now having to be refurbished because of the delays… a mere $40m extra.
They now have to be in service longer, as already six years have elapsed since new funding for the new trains was announced.
It is prudent to note that these trains are also being constructed overseas and shipped to Australia.
The actual train line is fully functional, and all freight rail services are still running on the same line, with no changes to their usage patterns.
The only XPT rail route that is being reduced is the North Coast line, and no other XPT services are affected.
Unfortunately, exactly as pointed out in the article, train seats are now difficult to purchase.
Going to the XPT booking site today (21 May 2025), the one night time service Coffs to Sydney at 22:10pm has totally booked out all this week.
Try the link https://transportnsw.info/regional-travel and see with the two trains per day, how difficult it is to get the direct-to-Sydney trains, at 11:02am or 22:10pm.
MInd you, it will only be a year of inconvenience, as then we will have the old one’s back to us again whilst they try to build more.
Q. Who cares about trains or makes a fuss?
A. It’s in the Sydney news every day if a traveller has to wait more than 10 minutes extra or has to catch a bus.
North Coast train users… Yeah, they can wait a year!
Regards,
John MURTON,
Coffs Coast.
