# NSW TrainLink

NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary services are spread across five major rail lines, operating out of Sydney.
NSW TrainLink was formed on 1 July 2013 when RailCorp was restructured and CountryLink was merged with the intercity services of CityRail.

## History

In May 2012, the Minister for Transport announced a restructure of RailCorp. On 1 July 2013, NSW TrainLink took over the operation of regional rail and coach services previously operated by CountryLink; non-metropolitan Sydney services previously operated by CityRail; and responsibility for the Main Northern railway line from Berowra to Newcastle, the Main Western railway line from Emu Plains to Bathurst, and the Illawarra railway line from Waterfall to Bomaderry.
On 21 August 2023, it was announced that the majority of intercity passenger services, crew and stations would move from NSW TrainLink to Sydney Trains.
The process of transferring intercity services from NSW TrainLink to Sydney Trains began in 2023. From 1 July 2024, NSW TrainLink's Intercity services were transferred to Sydney Trains.

## Network

NSW TrainLink services operate in areas of lower population density, using a reserved seat ticketing system.

### Train services

NSW TrainLink operates regional passenger services throughout New South Wales and interstate to Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne. All rail services utilise diesel rolling stock. For more details of each train line see List of NSW TrainLink train routes.
| Line colour and name | Between |
| North Coast Region | Central to Brisbane |
| North Western Region | Central to Armidale or Moree |
| Southern Region | Central to Canberra or Griffith or Melbourne |
| Western Region | Central to Broken Hill or Dubbo |

#### North Coast

North Coast services operate through the Mid North Coast, Northern Rivers and South East Queensland regions. Services operate on the Main North and North Coast lines, travelling between Sydney Central station and Roma Street station in Brisbane.
Principal stations served by XPT trains are:
* Taree
* Kempsey
* Coffs Harbour
* Grafton
* Casino
* Brisbane
See the full list of stations served.
Cities and towns served by NSW TrainLink coaches connecting off North Coast services include: Tea Gardens, Forster, Port Macquarie, Yamba, Moree, Alstonville, Lismore, Ballina, Byron Bay, Murwillumbah, Tweed Heads and Surfers Paradise.

#### North Western

North Western services operate through the Hunter, New England and North West Slopes & Plains regions. Services operate on the Main North line from Sydney Central station to Werris Creek. where the service divides for Armidale and Moree.
Principal stations served by Xplorer trains are:
* Singleton
* Muswellbrook
* Scone
* Tamworth
* Armidale
* Gunnedah
* Narrabri
* Moree
Cities and towns served by NSW TrainLink coaches connecting off North Western services include: Wee Waa, Inverell, Grafton, Glen Innes and Tenterfield.

#### Western

Western region services operate through the Central Tablelands, Orana, and Far West regions. Services operate on the Main Western Line from Sydney Central station to Dubbo and the Broken Hill line to Broken Hill.
Principal stations served by XPT trains are:
* Bathurst
* Orange
* Dubbo
Principal stations served by Xplorer trains are:
* Bathurst
* Orange
* Parkes
* Broken Hill
Cities and towns served by NSW TrainLink coaches connecting off Western services include: Oberon, Mudgee, Baradine, Cowra, Grenfell, Forbes, Parkes, Condobolin, Lightning Ridge, Brewarrina, Bourke, Warren and Broken Hill.

#### Southern

Southern region services operate through the Illawarra, South Coast, Monaro, South West Slopes, Southern Tablelands, Riverina, and Sunraysia regions, plus the Australian Capital Territory and parts of Victoria.
Services operate on the:
* Main South Line from Sydney Central station to Albury then continue on the North East line to Southern Cross station in Melbourne
* Bombala Line from south of Goulburn to Queanbeyan where services join the Canberra line to terminate inside the Australian Capital Territory at Canberra
* Hay Line from Junee to Yanco where services join the Yanco–Griffith line to Griffith
Principal stations served by XPT trains are:
* Goulburn
* Cootamundra
* Wagga Wagga
* Albury
* Wangaratta
* Melbourne
Principal stations served by Xplorer trains are:
* Moss Vale
* Goulburn
* Queanbeyan
* Canberra
* Cootamundra
* Griffith
Cities and towns served by NSW TrainLink coaches connecting off Southern services include: Wollongong, Bombala, Eden, Tumbarumba, Bathurst, Dubbo, Condobolin, Griffith, Mildura and Echuca.

### Coach services

NSW TrainLink continued with the existing contracts entered into by CityRail and CountryLink for the provision of coach services.
On 1 July 2014, the Lithgow to Gulgong, Coonabarabran, Baradine services passed from Greyhound Australia to Ogden's Coaches.
In July 2014, Transport for NSW commenced the re-tendering process for most of the routes with the previous 24 contracts reorganised into 18 contracts. The new contracts commenced on 1 January 2015 for a five-year period, with an option to extend for three years if performance criteria are met. The services operated by Forest Coach Lines and Sunstate Coaches commenced new five-year contracts on 1 July 2016.
The full list of coach operators providing services as at January 2015 was:
| Operator | Services |
| Australia Wide Coaches | Lithgow to Bathurst, Orange and Parkes |
| BusBiz | Lithgow to Dubbo and Nyngan Dubbo to Lightning Ridge Dubbo to Bourke Dubbo to Broken Hill Coolabah to Brewarrina Wagga Wagga to Kingston and Queanbeyan |
| Berrima Coaches | Picton to Bowral |
| Busways | Port Macquarie to Wauchope, Wauchope to Port Macquarie |
| CDC Canberra | Canberra to Bombala and Eden |
| Dysons | Wagga Wagga to Griffith Cootamundra to Tumbarumba Cootamundra to Bathurst or Dubbo Parkes to Condobolin |
| Forest Coach Lines | Narrabri to Wee Waa & Burren Junction |
| Hunter Valley Buses | Fassifern to Toronto |
| Loader's Coaches | Lithgow to Grenfell |
| Oberon Bus Company | Mount Victoria to Oberon |
| Ogden's Coaches | Lithgow to Gulgong, Coonabarabran and Baradine |
| Oxley Explorer | Armidale to Tenterfield, Port Macquarie to Tamworth, Tamworth to Port Macquarie |
| Port Stephens Coaches | Broadmeadow to Taree |
| Premier Shoalhaven | Kiama to Bomaderry Moss Vale to Bundanoon or Goulburn |
| G&J Purtill | Cootamundra to Condobolin Cootamundra to Mildura Wagga Wagga to Echuca Albury to Echuca |
| Roadcoach | Moss Vale to Wollongong Queanbeyan to Cootamundra |
| Sunstate Coaches | Grafton to Byron Bay Casino to Tweed Heads Casino to Surfers Paradise Casino to Brisbane |
| Symes Coaches | Tamworth or Armidale to Inverell Moree to Grafton |
+ not included in January 2015 re-tendering process
From 2018, NSW TrainLink introduced several new road coach services on a trial basis:
* Brewarrina to Coolabah commenced May 2018
* Bourke to Dubbo commenced May 2018
* Tamworth to Port Macquarie
* Tamworth to Scone, had ceased by November 2018
* Tamworth to Dubbo
* Campbelltown to Goulburn commenced September 2018
* Goulburn to Canberra commenced September 2018, made permanent in June 2023
* Forster to Coffs Harbour commenced April 2019
* Wagga Wagga to Queanbeyan commenced April 2019
* Broken Hill to Adelaide commenced June 2019, made permanent in June 2023
* Broken Hill to Mildura commenced June 2019, made permanent in June 2023
* Anglers Reach to Cooma commenced December 2019
* Bigga to Goulburn commenced December 2019
* Delegate to Nimmitabel commenced December 2019
* Goodooga to Dubbo commenced December 2019
* Moree to Walgett commenced December 2019

## Rolling stock

The entire NSW TrainLink fleet is maintained by Sydney Trains either directly or via a Sydney Trains contract with UGL Rail.
| Class | Image | Type | Service Speed | Service Speed | Carriage Numbers | Routes operated | Built |
| Class | Image | Type | km/h | mph | Carriage Numbers | Routes operated | Built |
| XPT | | Diesel power car | 160 | 99 | 19 | North Coast RegionSouthern RegionWestern Region | 1981–1994 |
| XPT carriages | | Passenger carriage | 160 | 99 | 60 | North Coast RegionSouthern RegionWestern Region | 1981–1994 |
| Xplorer | | Diesel multiple unit | 145 | 90 | 23 | North Western RegionSouthern RegionWestern Region | 1993 |

### Future fleet

| Class | Image | Type | Service Speed | Service Speed | Carriage Numbers | Future routes | Built |
| Class | Image | Type | km/h | mph | Carriage Numbers | Future routes | Built |
| R set | | Electro-diesel multiple unit | 160 | 99 | 117 (to be built) | North Coast RegionNorth Western RegionSouthern RegionWestern Region | 2026/27 (scheduled) |
A fleet of bi-mode CAF Civity trains is scheduled to replace the XPT, Xplorer and Endeavour fleets as part of the NSW TrainLink Regional Train Project.

## Performance

Patronage surged on regional trains in 2023, reversing pandemic-era losses and increasing a further three percent, with a particular increase in ridership on Sydney-Melbourne services. 107,000 monthly journeys were made on regional trains in 2023.
Regional services are considered on-time if they operate within ten minutes of their scheduled time. The target is for 92 percent of intercity services (formerly operated by NSW TrainLink) and 78 percent of regional services to operate on-time. In 2017–18 NSW Trains met both the Intercity target and the regional target. However, it failed to meet the Intercity target during peak hours. These results partially reverse a trend of failing to meet punctuality targets. Since the organisation commenced operations in 2013–14, NSW Trains has never met the intercity peak punctuality target. Regional train services have achieved their punctuality target twice, in 2015–16 and 2017–18. The 2015–16 result was the first time NSW Trains or its predecessor RailCorp had achieved the target in 13 years.
The following table lists patronage figures for the network during the corresponding financial year. Australia's financial years start on 1 July and end on 30 June. Major events that affected the number of journeys made or how patronage is measured are included as notes.
NSW TrainLink patronage by financial year :
| Year | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2023-24 |
| Intercity (millions) | 32.9 | 34.5 | 38.5 | 40.8 | 44.7 | 41.3 | 31.2 | 33.4 |
| Regional trains (millions) | 1.23 | 1.22 | 1.24 | 1.69 | < 1.7 | | | 1.9 |
| Regional coaches (millions) | 0.572 | 0.537 | 0.510 | 1.69 | < 1.7 | | | 1.9 |
| References | | | | | | | | |
* ↑ Not including coach stops.
* ↑ Opal rollout completed in April 2014
* ↑ Services in central Newcastle replaced by buses in December 2014
* ↑ Increase largely due to a change in the calculation of journeys for Opal vs magnetic stripe tickets
* ↑ Non-Opal tickets discontinued in August 2016
* ↑ Newcastle Interchange extension opened in October 2017
* ↑ Patronage was lower than previous years due to people staying at home and not taking public transport to school or work during the COVID-19 pandemic
* ↑ Patronage reported as 1.7 million journeys but was down by 1.4 percent compared to the previous year
The following table shows the patronage of each line of the NSW TrainLink Intercity network for the year ending 30 June 2024, based on Opal tap on and tap off data.
2023–24 NSW TrainLink Intercity patronage by line :
| Blue Mountains Line | 7,152,563 |
| Central Coast & Newcastle Line | 13,189,811 |
| Hunter Line | 803,606 |
| South Coast Line | 7,132,670 |
| Southern Highlands Line | 755,919 |

## Depots

The XPT fleet is maintained at the XPT Service Centre and the Endeavour and Xplorer fleets at Eveleigh Railway Workshops. The new bi-mode fleet will be maintained at a new facility, Mindyarra Maintenance Centre, in Dubbo.