A look at the Bathurst region's rail revival during 2022

The Western Advocate had no lack of stories with a train topic this year as a renewed interest in rail continued in the region - but not all of them were good news stories.

It started in February with the announcement that the Bathurst Rail Museum, which was about to celebrate its second birthday, had formed a partnership with Transport Heritage NSW that would provide benefits to each party.

In April, the village of Tarana welcomed a big crowd to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of its historic train station.

"We had the biggest ever crowd at the combined Tarana Markets and station events, with more than 1000 people enjoying the day," Tarana Valley Community Group committee member Greg Dargan said.

Mr Dargan said Member for Bathurst and Deputy Premier Paul Toole made the important announcement that, by the end of the first quarter of 2023, the first phase of the interior restoration of Tarana's station was due to be completed.

The guests at Tarana included Howard Collins, chief operations officer for Greater Sydney for Transport for NSW.

A landslip on the Blue Mountains line near Blackheath after torrential rain in July caused what was described as "extraordinary damage" by Regional Transport and Roads Minister Sam Farraway.

Bathurst Bullet passengers were just some of those who faced changes to their train services as the repairs began.

"The scope of the [repair] work is a lot more than first expected but I have been impressed with the team effort that I saw," Mr Farraway said as he visited the site.

The month was also notable for the start of work on the reconstruction of the line from Oberon to Hazelgrove - part of the former branch line from Oberon to Tarana.

"Starting from the Hazelgrove end, the rebuild will move south to Oberon," Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway secretary Dave McMurray said.

"The work should be complete in about two months without weather or other hold-ups.

"Restoration of the end platform carriages and the locomotives continues unabated. It's planned that one carriage and one locomotive will be fit for service by the end of October."

He said the line had been officially suspended in 1979 and, "some 43 years later, it is about to come back to life".

October brought the news that the Bathurst Bullet was going to get another stop - and Wallerawang was going to get a train service once again.

Member for Bathurst Mr Toole and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Mr Farraway were at Wallerawang to announce that its railway station, which had closed more than 30 years previously, would be given a $7 million upgrade.

"This upgrade will mean Wallerawang station will be able to be a timetabled stop on the Bathurst Bullet twice daily train services between Bathurst and Sydney," Mr Toole said.

He said the reopening plans for Wallerawang included upgraded parking, access improvements and external station repainting to heritage requirements, resurfacing for the platform, new lighting, seating and signage and CCTV for added security.

In response to the announcement, Lithgow Council said that it had been promoting "that there is no town in the Central West that is closer to Sydney than Lithgow" and it is, therefore, "the logical place to invest".

It was also the month that the Bathurst Bullet return daily service to Sydney celebrated its 10^th anniversary.

"It took 15 years to come to fruition, but what a great addition to the town," mayor Robert Taylor said.

"And to think we've now got a second one."

Bathurst Rail Action chairman John Hollis said it was archaic, in the days before the Bullet started, "for a growing town like Bathurst that we had to catch a coach down to Lithgow and get on the electric train".

There were problems on the Blue Mountains line again in December when a freight train derailed at Linden.

"It is expected more than 15,000 sleepers will need to be replaced, 120 broken rails fixed, and electrical work undertaken to restore signalling along the entire section of damaged track," Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Mr Farraway said.

But as the year ended, there was also the release of a masterplan for the Tremain's Mill precinct - a stone's throw from Bathurst Railway Station and part of the revival of the train station end of Keppel Street.

The $28.2 million proposed overhaul of the site included plans for a nine-room heritage boutique hotel in the existing Victoria Stores building, a new 80-room boutique hotel, and a 10-room boutique hotel in the existing concrete silos.

There were also plans for apartments, terraces and mews to offer residential living in the precinct.

And as a glimpse into a possible future, December also featured another clue as to what lies within a fast rail report that has been sitting on the NSW Government's desk for a number of years.

Report author Professor Andrew McNaughton told the Sydney Morning Herald that linking Newcastle and Wollongong to Sydney by fast rail would "change the face of NSW".

And for those living west of the Blue Mountains? Professor McNaughton said selective track upgrades at a fairly modest cost would make a big difference.

Heading into 2023, local train travellers will no doubt be watching for any news on those selective track upgrades with interest.