ARTC’s Jonathan Vandervoort, Executive General Manager - Hunter Valley, said more than 100 projects would be delivered in the 65-hour maintenance shutdown from 6am on Tuesday, August 15, until 8.30pm on Thursday, August 17. 

“These works are an essential part of keeping one of the busiest rail networks in the country running safely and reliably,” he said.

The works will take place within the rail corridor from Kooragang Island, north to Narrabri and also along the Ulan line from Muswellbrook. 

The scheduled activity will include track reconstructions, new rail, level crossing improvements, ballast cleaning, rail corridor tidy-up works and signalling maintenance. 

“We would like to thank the community for their patience with us while this important work is taking place – we appreciate it can be an inconvenience for our neighbours and there are often a number of ‘big yellow machines’ in operation during this work,” Mr Vandervoort said.

“The works also coincide with Rail Safety Week – so you will see a few rail safety week badges on our vehicles – we are asking the community to please use this as a reminder to be cautious around the rail corridor, take care near worksites and be aware there may be a number of additional trucks running in the area than usual.”

Some passenger rail services will be impacted on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday including between Scone and Maitland, and some trains between Telarah and Maitland and long distance trains to the North West. 

Visit www.sydney trains.info and www.nswtrainlink.info for further information. 

There are also road closures and detours in place due to the works, including Hebden Road, Glennies Creek Road, Wollombi Road and Ogilvie Street.