Mudgee Regional Rail Group asks for Dubbo Regional Council's support

After being given the quote for the rail line upgrade by professional engineering organisation Lycopodium, a group of rail enthusiasts are hoping this can come to fruition.

Mudgee Regional Rail group attended Dubbo Regional Council to ask for its support in lobbying the NSW Government to get the rail line back up and running.

The main reason member of Mudgee Regional Rail, Mike Sweeney, would like to see passenger and freight trains between the two towns, is to get traffic and logging trucks off the road.

"We've identified a quarter million tonnes of freight at the moment is coming through our roads and towns, and that could increase," he said.

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There is already a small link which could give a dual line to Dubbo from Lithgow, if the section between Rylstone and Gulgong was reopened.

"This would relieve all the freight bottlenecks that sometimes happen and would be of interest to all your exporters of grain and meat," Mr Sweeney said.

Not having this section of the rail line open means trains can't run between Dubbo, Mudgee and Lithgow.

After conducting a survey that was professionally audited, the rail group found only six responses out of 4000 said they didn't want the line reopened.

Mr Sweeney said that kind of support was overwhelming.

"When the local council got the results of that survey they said, 'gee, this is a pretty good idea, because the public will be heard'," he said.

With in-kind support from the Midwestern Regional Council, the group is hoping for something similar from Dubbo.

"We want to get this line open sooner rather than later, it's a no-brainer," he said.

"We're in the same electorate and people from Mudgee shop in Dubbo regularly and people from Dubbo come to Mudgee so we are part of a community which is why we're seeking the support to put pressure on Transport for NSW."

Dubbo currently has trains that go through to Orange, Bathurst, Lithgow and then down to Central Station in Sydney. The trip takes roughly six and a half hours.

Taking a route through Mudgee and Rylstone would be 19 kilometres longer but wouldn't take more time to make it to Sydney.

With a new government in power the group is hoping to raise awareness and interest in getting rail back up and running between the communities.

"This is a political issue and if we put pressure on the state government we can get something to happen," Mr Sweeney said.