Hunter Line

The Hunter Line (HUN) is an intercity commuter rail service operated by NSW TrainLink, running between Newcastle, with two branches to Dungog or Scone in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It operates on the Newcastle, Main North and North Coast lines.

This article is about the NSW TrainLink service. For the physical railway line, see Main North railway line, New South Wales. For the line used by hunters, see trapline.

Hunter Line
A Hunter railcar at Hamilton.
Overview
Service typeIntercity rail
LocaleHunter Region, New South Wales
Current operator(s)NSW TrainLink
Route
TerminiNewcastle
Scone
Dungog
Stops28
Line(s) usedNewcastle
Main North
North Coast
Technical
Rolling stockEndeavour & Hunter railcars
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Track owner(s)Transport Asset Holding Entity
Timetable number(s)HUN

Description of Route

Hunter Line services operate from Newcastle on the Newcastle branch line to Islington Junction, the Main North Line between Islington Junction and Scone, the North Coast Line between Maitland and Dungog. The Hunter Line shares its portion of the Main North Line and North Coast Line with NSW TrainLink North Western and North Coast regional services respectively.

Services

Services run regularly between Newcastle and Telarah, with infrequent services to Dungog and Singleton, Muswellbrook and Scone.[1] Services are operated by Endeavour and Hunter railcars.

Until 2007, 620/720 class railcars operated the service. The line was the last in Australia to have a regular steam hauled passenger service. The final service was hauled from Newcastle to Singleton on 24 July 1971 by 3246.[2] Diesel locomotive hauled services operated until replaced by 620/720 and 660/760 class railcars in 1984.

The line was truncated to terminate at Hamilton from 5 January 2015.[3] It was extended to Newcastle Interchange when this opened on 15 October 2017.

Trains that service the line have two carriages, while some peak hour services have four carriages.

Stations
Hunter Line stations
Name Railway line Serving suburbs/towns Notes
Newcastle Interchange Newcastle Wickham, Newcastle Interchange with Central Coast & Newcastle Line and Newcastle Light Rail
Hamilton Hamilton, Islington, Tighes Hill Interchange with Central Coast & Newcastle Line
Waratah Main North Waratah, Georgetown, Mayfield, Mayfield East
Warabrook Warabrook, Callaghan
Sandgate Sandgate
Hexham Hexham
Tarro Tarro
Beresfield Beresfield, Woodberry
Thornton Thornton
Metford Metford
Victoria Street East Maitland
East Maitland East Maitland, Pitnacree, Tenambit
High Street South Maitland, Maitland
Maitland Maitland Terminus of certain services
At Maitland, the line branches. The northern branch is towards Dungog, and the northwestern branch is towards Scone.
To Dungog
Telarah North Coast Telarah, Rutherford Terminus of most services
Mindaribba Mindaribba, Bolwarra Heights
Paterson Paterson
Martins Creek Martins Creek
Hilldale Hilldale
Wallarobba Wallarobba
Wirragulla Wirragulla
Dungog Dungog
To Scone
Lochinvar Main North Lochinvar
Greta Greta, North Rothbury
Branxton Branxton, East Branxton
Singleton Singleton Terminus of certain services
Muswellbrook Muswellbrook Terminus of certain services
Aberdeen Aberdeen
Scone Scone

Patronage

The following table shows the patronage of each line of the NSW TrainLink Intercity network for the year ending 30 June 2022, based on Opal tap on and tap off data.[4]

2021–22 NSW TrainLink Intercity patronage by line
3 179 000
6 015 000
418 000
3 013 000
334 000

References
  1. "Hunter line timetable". Transport for NSW.
  2. Inquiry in Planning Process in Newcastle and the Broader Hunter Region Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine NSW Parliament 23 October 2014
  3. Upcoming transport changes in Newcastle Archived 9 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine Transport Info NSW 8 December 2014
  4. "Train Patronage – Monthly Figures". Transport for NSW. Retrieved 20 August 2022.

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