Hunter railway line, New South Wales

Hunter line
Overview
Mode	Regional rail
Area
Map colour	Purple/Grey
Owner	CityRail
Design
Stations	31
Connects	Newcastle Hamilton Maitland Dungog/Scone
Operations
Operator(s)	CityRail
Fleet	Hunter Railcars Endeavour Railcar
Depot(s)	Broadmeadow
Public transport |  v • d • e

The Hunter railway line is a regional railway line which is part of Sydney's CityRail network. The line runs from the central business district of Newcastle, on the coast, northwest to Scone and Dungog in the Hunter Valley area.

History and Features

See also: Main North Line and North Coast Line.

The Hunter line consists of the Newcastle branch line between Newcastle and Islington Junction, the Main North line between Islington Junction and Maitland, the North Coast Line between Maitland and Dungog and the Main North line between Maitland and Scone. The Main North line, formerly known as the Great Northern Railway (G.N.R.), was the original mainline between Sydney and Brisbane. This line, which ran via Armidale and required a change of train due to the break of gauge at Wallangarra, was opened to East Maitland in 1857^[1] and Maitland in 1858. It reached Singleton in 1863, Muswellbrook in 1869, and Scone in 1871.

The G.N.R. was then extended beyond Scone to West Tamworth in 1878, Armidale in 1883, and reached the Queensland border at Wallangarra in 1888. The new main line to Brisbane, via the North Coast was opened in stages between 1905 and 1930, but a ferry carried trains across the Clarence River at Grafton until the bridge was completed in 1932. The Newcastle rail network remained independent of the main network radiating from Sydney until 1889, when the line between Sydney and Newcastle was completed with the opening of the Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge. Thus Newcastle was connected by rail with Wallangarra before it was connected with Sydney, such was the difficulty and expense of reaching and bridging the Hawkesbury River.

Between Islington Junction and Maitland, there is a four track section where the line runs parallel to the Newcastle coal lines, which serve a number of colleries along the route. The line is double track between Newcastle and St Heliers on the main line, and between Maitland and Telarah on the North Coast line, and single track between Telarah and Dungog, and between St Heliers and Scone (and beyond), with duplication of the 4 km from St Heliers to Muswellbrook due for completion in late 2009. The line is not electrified except between Hamilton and Newcastle for the benefit of Sydney trains, and the line is serviced by new Hunter railcars and older Endeavour railcar sets, both running in a 2-car configuration. Until 2007, 620 & 720 class diesel railcars (DMUs) built in the 1960s previously serviced the line.

Services run regularly between Newcastle and Telarah, with infrequent services to Dungog and Scone.

Stations

Name of Station	Code	Newcastle TravelPass Zone	Serving Suburbs	Pattern stops at this station						Connections
Hunter Lines
Newcastle	NTL	Yellow	Newcastle, Newcastle East, The Hill							■Newcastle & Central Coast Line
Civic	CVI	Yellow	Newcastle, Honeysuckle, Cooks Hill
Wickham	WKH	Yellow	Wickham, Newcastle West
Hamilton	HMN	Yellow	Hamilton, Islington, Tighes Hill							■Newcastle & Central Coast Line
Waratah	WTH	Yellow	Waratah, Georgetown, Mayfield, Mayfield East
Warabrook (University)	WBK	Yellow	Warabrook, Callaghan
Sandgate	SDG	Yellow	Sandgate
Hexham	HXM	Yellow	Hexham
Tarro	TRJ	Yellow	Tarro
Beresfield	BLD	Yellow	Beresfield, Woodberry
Thornton	THO	Yellow	Thornton
Metford	MFD	Pink	Metford
Victoria Street	VST	Pink	East Maitland
East Maitland	EAM	Pink	East Maitland, Pitnacree, Tenambit
High Street	HGH	Pink	South Maitland, Maitland
Maitland	MTL	Pink	Maitland
Telarah	TLR	Pink	Telarah, Rutherford
Mindaribba	MNB	-	Mindaribba
Paterson	PTR	-	Paterson
Martins Creek	MCR	-	Martins Creek
Hilldale	HIL	-	Hilldale
Wallarobba	WLB	-	Wallarobba
Wirragulla	WGL	-	Wirragulla
Dungog	DGG	-	Dungog
Lochinvar	LCV	-	Lochinvar
Greta	GTA	-	Greta, North Rothbury
Branxton	BNX	-	Branxton, East Branxton
Singleton	SIX	-	Singleton
Muswellbrook	MBK	-	Muswellbrook
Aberdeen	ADM	-	Aberdeen
Scone	NSO	-	Scone

Stopping Patterns

Hunter line service bound for Newcastle

• Pattern 1: Newcastle, all to Telarah and vice-versa (peak and off-peak).
• Pattern 2: Newcastle, all to Warabrook, then Beresfield, Thornton, Metford, Victoria Street, Maitland and Telarah and vice-versa (peak and off-peak - weekdays only).
• Pattern 3: Newcastle all to Maitland and vice-versa (one afternoon off-peak service on weekdays, two services on weekends).
• Pattern 4: Newcastle, all to Warabrook, then Beresfield, Thornton, Metford, Victoria Street, Maitland and all stations to Dungog and vice-versa (peak and off-peak, 5 services a day on weekdays, 3 services a day on Saturdays, 2 services a day on Sundays).
• Pattern 5: Newcastle, all to Warabrook, then Beresfield, Thornton, Metford, Victoria Street, Maitland, and all stations to Scone and vice-versa (peak and off-peak, 3 services (1 early morning, 1 afternoon peak hour, 1 evening peak hour) on weekdays, 2 services (1 early morning, 1 evening) on weekends). For 1842 from Scone to Newcastle train, it stops all stations to Maitland, then Warabrook, then all stations to Newcastle.
• Pattern 6: Newcastle, all to Warabrook, then Beresfield, Thornton, Metford, Victoria Street, Maitland and all stations to Muswellbrook and vice-versa (one mid-morning off-peak service on weekdays only).

Closed stations

• Allandale - permanently closed on September 9, 2005
• Belford - permanently closed on September 4, 2005

References