Push to increase train services to Singleton

Transport for NSW, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, Singleton council and Two More Trains for Singleton will meet in Singleton on January 29 to discuss adding a morning and afternoon train to the timetable.

Singleton commuters struggle with a gap between morning trains at 6.56am and 10.40am, and evening trains at 7.55pm and 9.40pm, Two More Trains spokesman Martin Fallding said.

They want an 8am and 1.40pm train, which would fit in with the existing timetable, to give residents an adequate service.

Mr Fallding raised this with the state government before the new timetable was released in October last year, but Singleton’s desires were not fulfilled.

He believes Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian’s interest in the issue has led to the meeting.

“There’s a really big break between trains, and if you can’t fit in what you’re doing with those times then you don’t use the service,” Mr Fallding said.

“In the evening, if you don’t make a connecting train then you don’t get home.

 “We’re going to have all the stakeholders in the one place at the one time, and that is a great step forward.”

Mayor of Singleton, Cr John Martin, has backed the additional services and wants the town to secure “as many as we can get”.

But a supposed ‘stand-off’ between Transport for NSW and ARTC may stand in the way.

Mr Fallding said Transport for NSW had previously approached ARTC about extra trains, but the company did not want more passenger services on the line that could interfere with coal trains.

An ARTC spokesman told the Newcastle Herald the company was “happy to discuss the request” but there were “a number of issues to be considered” and it was ultimately a “public transport” issue.

Transport for NSW said it “regularly meets stakeholders as part of ongoing consultation”.