95% ciomplete on 14-apr-2025
Vehicles
The New England Region has a network of major roads headed by several highways and main arterial roads. Nearly all are sealed but generally of a lower standard than most of the State. The minor roads are limited and many are gravel.
Future Passenger Trains
Armidale Station is the terminal station for the train from Sydney. The service is a daily day time service operated by Trains NSW using a three car Explorer diesel powered train set. The outbound train departs at 8:30 am and the inbound train arrives at 5:15 pm. The train is stabled in Armidale overnight. There is connecting coach services to Glen Innes, Tenterfield and to Inverell
The train journey with the current XPT train sets takes about 8 hours and offers limited food, and refreshment choices.
The new Momentum train sets manufactured by CAF in Spain will offer a much more sophisticated service for passengers bet ween Armidale and Sydney. But it is unlikely that the trip between Armidale and Sydney will be any faster, because of track design issue. For much of the route it is a single track for both directions, it has to be used by both passenger and freight services, and the signalling system is old technology. Never the less the passenger train sets will be welcomed by regular passengers becasue of the comfort offered to them.
Moree currently has no rail services that connect with the New England region.
Wallangarra has no rail services connecting any South East QLD locations to Tenterfield.
There is an unused rail corridor from Wallangarra to Armidale that could be re-activated as a high priority. A potential rail line from Grafton to Moree via Glen Innes and Inverell that would deliver major benefitsland region to the New England.
All NSW trains are standard gauge however Queensland rail is Narrow gauge. Correcting this situation is of national importance,
Buses and Coaches
Coach services prior to Covid offered a number of services from Sydney to Brisbane via the New England Highway. These services were offered by Premier, Greyhound, Mc Cafferty and others. Historically these services were well patronised and fairly flexible to meet passenger’s needs. Some services also carried parcel freight. It is understood that the Government paid no subsidies for these services. Post Covid there are no private coach services in operation.
Transport for NSW operates some rail/coach services that connect with the XPT passenger train services at Armidale. The 210km Armidale north service carries about 17 passengers to Glen Innes and about 5 all the way to Tenterfield where it terminates arriving at about 8:20 pm. The morning departure time is 5:40 am, making the Sydney Tenterfield journey time of about 11hours. There is no connection north of Tenterfield.
Crisps Bus Services operate weekday return coach services once each day between Stanthorpe and Brisbane however these services do not connect to Tenterfield.
Transport for NSW operate coach services Inverell – Tamworth, Tenterfield – Inverell , Grafton – Glenn Innes – Moree three times weekly
Other Private Coach Services
- Dubbo – Tamworth twice weekly.
- Tamworth – Port Macquarie twice weekly.
The Dubbo – Port Macquarie service needs extending to Armidale and its frequency increased.
Pre-paid Opal cards are not used on these services. The New England region is seriously disadvantaged due to not being able to gain the transport travel data available on bus and rail routes and services like those supported by the Opal ticketing system.
Planes
Within the New England region or nearby there are seven commercial airports.
Armidale Regional Airport offers about 35 air services each week to Sydney and Brisbane via Qantas and Virgin. QantasLink have unscheduled corporate flights.
Rex, in the past, also operated services to and from Armidale.
A $10 million upgrade of Armidale Regional Airport was completed in December 2017, creating a new terminal building with improved check-in, baggage handling, food and beverage and retail facilities, as well as enhanced parking. Parking is $12 per day. Air fares to Sydney are about $250-$300 one way.
Glen Innes Airport Maintenance is due to commence on runway rehabilitation works for the bitumen runway. This is a $3.3 million project that is being funded through 3 separate grant revenue streams. The scope of this work includes runway rehabilitation, lighting upgrades and drainage works.
Discussions are underway with the Glen Innes Motor Sports Club to provide an area for non-aviation activities, as per the Airport Master Plan. This airport is primarily used by recreation users, for aeromedical purposes and as a Rural Fire Service base during fires.
Glen Innes Airport is also used by the RAAF for training purposes.
A company called Super Air has a plane based at the airport for private purposes.
From 1st July 2024, Armidale Regional Council resolved to charge users landing fees to recoup money being spent on maintenance etc. This is a normal practice at rural Airports.
The airport is managed by 1 Works Officer who spends most of their time ensuring the airfield areas are maintained, for example mowing. During the quieter winter months ARC uses the Works Officer to complete other Council works.
Inverell Airport
Inverell offers daily flights to Sydney and Brisbane with a taxi connection to Glen Innes. about 70km. The flight fare is a minimum of about $440 up to $700 one way, according to the time of booking. These are current prices from Windsong Travel Service, Inverell.
Tenterfield Airstrip
Tenterfield has a small airstrip that is used by private aircraft located close to the town centre.
Toowoomba Regional Airport
Toowoomba has a city aerodrome that is fully operational and used for charter flights and maintenance. It is home of the Aero Club and the base for a collection of “war birds”.
Toowoomba Airports
Toowoomba City Airport is located close to the CBD and is operated by the Council.
Wellcamp airport is also located near in Toowoomba was first opened in 2014.
Qantas and Rex have daily passenger flights from Toowoomba to Sydney, Brisbane and QLD regional towns. It has generated 700,000 passenger movements last year
Qantas Freight and Cathay Pacific Cargo have delivered over 11,000 tonnes of freight overseas to/from Toowoomba. There are now up to 4 jumbos freight flights per week.
Wellcamp, Australia’s first privately funded public airport, has a modern state of the art, 8,000 sq m terminal. Wellcamp now handles about 100 air services per week.
The Tamworth Regional Airport is owned and operated by Tamworth Regional Council. It has been the major regional hub in NSW for decades. But there is no integrated public transport from the New England region.
It is home to QantasLink Dash 8 heavy maintenance division, Sigma Aviation, Aviskills, Civil Aviation Safety Authority Regional Office and the International Flight Training Tamworth for pilot training. Tracking live departure and arrival times for Tamworth Regional Airport are located at Flight Aware.
QantasLink operate Dash 8 – 200, 300 & Q400 (36 – 74 seater aircraft) between Tamworth and Sydney 7 days a week with up to 6 flights daily.
Tamworth Regional Airport has a Qantas Club Lounge, located inside the security screening zone in the departure lounge.
Autonomous Electric Aircraft
Electric aircraft maker Wisk Aero is pushing to have its autonomous air taxis operating in Australia ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
The New England Region could be an ideal location for test flights and early introduction of passenger flights due to the atmosphere and the relatively low volumes of air traffic. Glen Innes airport would have suitable facilities.
The US company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with key stakeholder Airservices Australia, the federal organisation that provides services to the aviation industry such as air traffic control and firefighting.
Active Transport
With the New England region being a rural based area there is considerable opportunity for walking, jogging and cycling however infrastructure constructed formally as Active Transport projects are very sparse. The region has considerable areas of National Parks providing lots of walking paths and some cycling facilities.
Bike trails are well publicised. It would seem that there are as many as 1000 bike trails covering as much as 30,000 kilometres. To quantify the benefit to Active Transport there is a need for each local government area to audit the bike trails
Taxi and Uber
In the New England’s larger population areas like Armidale, Glen Innes and Tenterfield there are some very limited Taxi and Uber services however they only work very restricted hours and distances. There is considerable need to expand these services. It is highly likely that Government assistance will be necessary.
Bikes
Bikes have changed significantly over the last 150 years with penny farthings, three wheelers and tandems going out of fashion. Bikes now have multi speed gears and quality braking systems. Most riders now wear bike helmets and some wear protective clothing.
Riding in gangs along public streets is now common placing the riders at risk.
The latest trend is the addition of electric battery power to bikes that are now referred to as e-Bikes. With the advent of battery power e-Scooters are now also common
e-Bikes and e-Scooters are capable of travelling at 100kph and seriously impingd on rider and road user safety. Rules and regulations are now being developed by the NSW Government.
Bikes and Scooters do not pay registration fees and do not have general insurance or public liability insurance.
Formal bike riding paths and dedicated roadway sections are becoming more wide spread in other parts of NSW, but not yet in NSW.
For the future it would seem that bikes and scooter will include greater technology that will increase travelling speeds and increase range. It is unlikely that safety features on bike will improve, this will require those responsible for building and maintaining bike pathways to absorb this costly burden.
It would seem that legislative changes will allow bikes and scooters to be permitted to travel roll-on / roll- off passenger trains and again rail operators will have to address the safety issues.
Walking
The major motivation for walking is the health benefits. Walking would seem to be on the decline except where dedicated walkways are being provided.
Pedestrians are also worried about issues caused be faster forms of active transport especially e-Bikes and e-Scooters.
Mobility Scooters
Presently, it appears that there is no accessible transport for these types of disability vehicles.
Rick Banyard
16-apr-2025
