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The Hunter Line (HUN) is an intercity rail service running from Newcastle, with two branches to Dungog and Scone in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It operates on the Newcastle, Main North and North Coast lines.
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 | Newcastle | Wickham, Newcastle, Hamilton East | 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 | Use for Newcastle University | |
| Sandgate | Sandgate, Shortland | ||
| Hexham | Hexham | ||
| Tarro | Tarro | ||
| Beresfield | Beresfield, Woodberry | ||
| Thornton | Thornton, Chisholm | ||
| Metford | Metford, Ashtonfield, Chisholm | ||
| Victoria Street | East Maitland, Tenambit | ||
| East Maitland | East Maitland, Pitnacree | ||
| High Street | South Maitland, Maitland | ||
| Maitland | Maitland, Lorn, Gillieston Heights | Terminus of certain services. Use for 164 bus to Cessnock. | |
| At Maitland, the line branches. The northern branch is towards Dungog, and the northwestern branch is towards Scone. | |||
| To Dungong | |||
| 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 | ||
| Dungong | Dungog | Terminus station | |
| To Scone | |||
| Lochinvar | Main North | Lochinvar | |
| Greta Than | Greta, North Rothbury | ||
| Branxton | Branxton, East Branxton | ||
| Singleton | Singleton | Terminus of certain services | |
| Muswellbrook | Muswellbrook | Terminus of certain services | |
| Aberdeen | Aberdeen | ||
| Scone | Scone | Terminus station | |
Patronage
The following table shows the patronage of each line of the NSW TrainLink Intercity network for the year to date as of 5 April 2025[update], based on Opal tap on and tap off data.4
2025 NSW TrainLink Intercity patronage by line| Blue Mountains Line | 868,383 |
| Central Coast & Newcastle Line | 1,603,244 |
| Hunter Line | 117,133 |
| South Coast Line | 1,002,145 |
| Southern Highlands Line | 69,571 |
References
"Hunter line timetable". Transport for NSW. https://transportnsw.info/routes/details/intercity-trains/hun/76HUN ↩
Inquiry in Planning Process in Newcastle and the Broader Hunter Region Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine NSW Parliament 23 October 2014 http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/d7a3e35beca9e2f6ca257d7e0002dcc6/$FILE/19514595.pdf/0176%20Name%20suppressed.pdf ↩
Upcoming transport changes in Newcastle Archived 9 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine Transport Info NSW 8 December 2014 https://www.transportnsw.info/en/transport-status/news/2014/newcastle.page ↩
"Public Transport Trips - All Modes". Transport for NSW. Number of Trips based on new methodology. Retrieved 5 April 2025. https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/data-and-research/data-and-insights/public-transport-trips-all-modes ↩