SUNDAY will mark the sixth anniversary of the introduction of the Bathurst Bullet train service and Rail Action Bathurst chairman John Hollis, for one, is thrilled.
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The service, introduced on October 21, 2012, has helped put the focus back on rail transportation, Mr Hollis said, and improved travel for many Bathurst residents.
According to figures from Transport for NSW, more than 1500 passengers are boarding the train at Bathurst Railway Station each month.
“People riding on the Bullet can see every day when it leaves the station that there are 40 to 50 people on it, and I’ve seen about 110 people on it before,” Mr Hollis said.
He said, from his own experience, the number of people jumping on the Bullet as it makes its regular stops has grown, a sign that they are seeing the value of the service.
The addition of Westmead as a stop for the train was “quite significant” for users as well.
Mr Hollis said the advent of the Bullet was likely where the upgrades to the railway station, such as the car park and the Opal system, had stemmed from.
“For the future of course we are looking towards the advent of the Railway Museum and of course the new bullet train, which the government has gone out to tender on,” he said.
He also noted that there had been some improvements in Keppel and Havannah streets.
“Generally that whole rail precinct has been updated and I think that all comes back to the advent of the Bullet,” Mr Hollis said.
The Bullet, on weekdays, departs Bathurst at 5.46am and makes its return from Sydney’s Central station at 5.47pm, arriving back in Bathurst just after 9.30pm.
The train leaves Bathurst later on weekends and public holidays, but Mr Hollis said the Rail Action Bathurst group was lobbying to have it leave earlier so people could spend more time in Sydney on those days.
Other than that, he was thrilled with how the service had been operating.
“I feel it has been a tremendous service for the Bathurst community and it has been a fantastic piece of infrastructure,” he said.
