{"id":141037,"date":"2024-08-25T02:31:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T02:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=141037"},"modified":"2024-08-25T02:33:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T02:33:32","slug":"regional-trains-in-nsw-are-old-slow-and-half-empty-but-i-still-enjoy-the-ride-michael-burge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/regional-trains-in-nsw-are-old-slow-and-half-empty-but-i-still-enjoy-the-ride-michael-burge\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional trains in NSW are old, slow and half-empty \u2013 but I still enjoy the ride Michael Burge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional trains in NSW are old, slow and half-empty \u2013 but I still enjoy the ride By Michael Burge<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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\u2018It\u2019s not until we hit the Hunter Valley with its duplicated tracks that the Xplorer achieves a constant speed, and we pulled into Sydney\u2019s Central station just before 5pm.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/span><\/p>\n

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Source:- theguardian<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The ageing fleet of Xplorer trains are running late half the time and can\u2019t get up to speed on single tracks, but the 10-hour journey still has much to recommend it<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I<\/span>\u2019ve been catching the TrainLink to Sydney from the New South Wales New England region for years. You could call it our best-kept secret, but in truth we\u2019ve kept it too well: very few northern New Englanders travel on our daily coach and train service.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also feels slightly subversive actually using the public transport already available to us instead of weighing in to the bitter debate about\u00a0reopening the northernmost stretch of the old Great Northern Railway to passenger trains<\/a>\u00a0at a cost of up to $2bn. Those trains stopped 35 years ago, and plans to build cycle-friendly rail trails on the disused tracks are under way, but for a loud contingent of train-loving locals that\u2019s the only rail worth talking about.<\/span><\/p>\n

My most recent 10-hour TrainLink journey to the city started at 6.20am with boarding a coach at Deepwater. This bus service replaced trains between Armidale and Tenterfield and I\u2019ve never experienced it more than half full. Numbers usually lift on the Xplorer waiting at Armidale railway station, yet even in school holidays my carriage departed mostly empty.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we approached Uralla I tuned into a conversation about high ticket costs. My peak return fare of $200 was about a third of the average flight from Armidale to the city \u2013 before Rex\u2019s current woes. That\u2019s comparable to what the trip would cost me in fuel and, judging by the chatter, I wasn\u2019t the only passenger doing the sums.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soaring air fares during the height of the pandemic saw a\u00a0boom in demand for regional train bookings<\/a>, but now an interstate flight from Sydney to Melbourne costs much the same as an intercity train \u2013 as little as $90-$100 one way. Watch it, though, because while some intercity routes make regional stops,\u00a0rural residents can be subject to \u201camended timetables\u201d<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Victoria, the train is the cheapest option by far: in 2023 the state government\u00a0capped fares on its regional VLine services at the maximum daily fare for metro trains<\/a>, currently $9.20.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the beautiful hill country around Woolbrook slid by, the quiet exacerbated the creaking of the old rolling stock, in service for decades. A big stretch of the journey is on a single track along narrow corridors with plenty of bends and beautiful heritage bridges, punctuated by the driver reminding us that this ageing infrastructure makes progress slow. It\u2019s also notoriously difficult to get a mobile phone signal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, I love this journey through the rural country I\u2019ve known since childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n

The carriage almost filled in Tamworth. A hot lunch from the buffet accompanied the valley views as we trundled down to Murrurundi. Plenty of passengers had packed their own, possibly to defray the higher ticket cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not until we hit the Hunter Valley with its duplicated tracks that the Xplorer achieves a constant speed, and we pulled into Sydney\u2019s Central station just before 5pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

My trip was among more than a million made each year on regional TrainLink train\/coach services<\/a>, up 3% on pre-Covid levels. But that data masks\u00a0a litany of delays in the new regional rail fleet<\/a>\u00a0stretching back as long as I\u2019ve travelled this route.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ageing rolling stock\u00a0featured in the 2023 state election campaign<\/a>, before\u00a0the Minns government announced<\/a>\u00a0it would honour the contract for replacement trains under a\u00a0deal with the Spanish construction company engaged by the Coalition<\/a>. The $2.8 bn rollout will see the creaky regional Xplorers retired.<\/span><\/p>\n

Construction is \u201cunder way\u201d<\/a>\u00a0but there was only a hint of the projected 2026 completion date in\u00a0a slightly unrelated update earlier this year<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I headed home days later I was quietly thrilled to board a coach at Sydney central bound for Muswellbrook, due to scheduled trackwork. We arrived at the Upper Hunter town well before the train was due to depart, but thanks to one late bus in the convoy our lead got squandered. As we headed for the hills 90 minutes behind schedule, indignant talk turned to, \u201cI reckon I\u2019ll just drive next time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At Tamworth, the train almost emptied, leaving us stalwarts from the far north to chug up the ranges to Armidale. While staff cleaned onboard toilets and turned seats around for tomorrow\u2019s Sydney service, I pondered whether I\u2019d still recommend riding the rattler.<\/span><\/p>\n

If my husband and I were both travelling, there\u2019s no argument that two tanks of fuel would be far cheaper than two train fares, even at off-peak rates, so the train experience would need to out-compete driving a lot more than it currently does.<\/span><\/p>\n

This rural public transport dilemma is fuelled by the\u00a0struggle to maintain regional airlines<\/a>, but where does it sit in\u00a0a state committed to lowering carbon emissions<\/a>?<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Victorian regional train fare cap<\/a>\u00a0was a measure to get cars off the road, although it\u00a0resulted in overcrowding<\/a>. Brisbane\u2019s current\u00a050c train fare cap trial<\/a>\u00a0extends to regional cities such as the Gold Coast and Ipswich. But the only change in NSW appears to be\u00a0talk about whether the $2.50 senior\u2019s fare is sustainable<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time 10 of us boarded the bus north to Tenterfield, with only four continuing beyond Glen Innes, I got the usual stark reminder that public transport is a numbers game.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were\u00a02,670 tickets sold between Armidale and Tenterfield from 2021-2024<\/a>, 12 of them from my household.\u00a0A petition signed by some 10,000 people (including 7,000 northern tablelands residents)<\/a>\u00a0supporting the return of passenger and freight trains north of Armidale suggests there is more demand. However, the Minns government\u00a0has no plan to reopen that train route<\/a>, and\u00a0rail trails are in the pipeline<\/a>\u00a0thanks to\u00a0funding secured by federal member for New England, Barnaby Joyce,<\/a>\u00a0in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost 12 hours after boarding in Sydney, as the lights of Deepwater came into view, I had to admit that I still prefer public transport to driving, despite the bumpy ride.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even when our old rattler runs late and half-empty, the glass is more than half-full for those of us actually supporting the service.<\/span><\/p>\n