1. Roads

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 in most parts of NSW. The minor roads are limited and many are gravel.

2. New Regional Trains

The long awaited Momentum train sets manufactured by CAF in Spain will probably start running in regional NSW and Intercity routes to Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne by 2026. Finally!

But with just 26 train sets to cover all of regional NSW and the intercity capital routes it will be difficult to schedule more frequent trains between New England and Sydney. Because of single track operation for a large % of the route, plus sharing with freight services, it is unlikely the time taken for the Momentum trains to complete their trip is any quicker.

Armidale Station is the most northerly terminal station for trains from Sydney. The service is a daily day time service operated by NSW TrainLink, 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 CountryLink bus to Glen Innes, Tenterfield and Inverell. But patronage is very small, because elderly people have problems getting on and off the buses. It also arrives quite late at Tenterfield.

The Sydney-Armidale train journey takes about 8 hours. Limited food and drinks are available.

Moree has no rail services that connect with the New England.

Wallangarra has no rail services connecting to any SE QLD locations to

There are no rail services from Tenterfield or New England into Wallangarra and other major towns/cities in SE QLD.

The unused rail corridor from Wallangarra to Armidale, built as the Great Northern Railway (GNR) line could be re-activated because it is still owned and controlled by the NSW Government.

There is a potential east-west rail line from Grafton – Glen Innes – Inverell and Moree,that would deliver major benefits to New England for freight, passengers and tourism. 

All NSW trains operate on standard gauge while QLD Rail is 3’6″ gauge. New interstate freight lines, including Inland Rail, are already built to standard guage, finally correcting the disconnect situation that occured Australia wide in the 19th century.

3. Buses and Coaches

Coach services prior to Covid-19 offered a number of services from Sydney to Brisbane via the New England Highway. These services were offered by Premier, Greyhound, McCafferty 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 NSW Government paid no subsidies for these services. Post Covid-19 there are no longer any private coach services operating through New England to Sydney and Brisbane.

TfNSW operates some rail/coach services that connect with the Explorer 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 Coaches operate weekday return coach services once daily between Stanthorpe and Brisbane. However these services do not connect to Tenterfield.

TfNSW operate

• a coach service to Inverell from Tamworth 
• a coach service from Tenterfield to Inverell 
• a coach service from Grafton to Moree three times weekly

Private coach services operate

• Dubbo – Tamworth two times weekly.
• Tamworth – Port Macquarie two times weekly.

The Dubbo and Port Macquarie services need extending to Armidale and the frequency increased.

Opal tickets cannot used on these services. Therefore the New England is seriously disadvantaged by not being able to analyse any travel data on those routes.

4.0 Planes

Within the New England Region or nearby are seven commercial airports 

4.1) Armidale Regional Airport

• Qantas and Virgin use Armidale Airport to offer about 35 air services each week to Sydney and Brisbane.
• QantasLink have unscheduled corporate flights.
• Rex also operated services to and from Armidale until their entered bankruptcy.

Other factors include:- 

• 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.

4.2) Glen Innes Airport

• Currently, construction is due to commence on runway rehabilitation works on the bitumen runway, early November. 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.
• The airport is primarily used by recreation users, for aeromedical purposes and as a Rural Fire Service base during fires. 
• The airport is also used by the Air Force for training purposes.
• A company called Super Air also has a plane based at the airport for private purposes.
• From 1^st July 2024, 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 serviced by 1 Works Officer who spends most of their time ensuring the airfield areas are maintained, for example mowing. During the quieter months such as Winter, Council utilises the Works Officer to complete other Council works.

4.3) Inverell Airport

• Inverell offers daily flights to Sydney and Brisbane with a Taxi connection to Glen Innes. (About 70kms). 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). 

4.4) Tenterfield airstrip

• Tenterfield has a small airstrip that is used by private aircraft located close to the town centre.

4.5) Toowoomba Regional Airport

• Toowoomba also 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 City Airport is located close to the CBD and is Operated by the Council.

4.6) Wellcamp International Airport Toowoomba

• Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba was first opened in 2014 and has now been open 10 years. 
• Quantas and Rex have daily passenger flights to Sydney, Brisbane and Regional services to Queensland and have generated 700000 passenger movements. The Airport currently offers direct flights to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Townsville, Proserpine and Western Queensland destinations.
• Quantas Freight and Cathay Pacific Cargo have delivered over 11000 tonnes of freight from overseas. The freight services now have up to 4 jumbos of freight per week.
• Wellcamp, Australia’s first privately funded public airport, has a modern state of the art, 8,000square-metre terminal. Wellcamp now handles about 100 air services per week.
• Wellcamp site master plan can be found at : –https://www.wellcamp.com.au/media/1186/wellcamp-airport-sitemap-27-04-16.pdf

4.7) Tamworth Regional Airport

• The Tamworth Regional Airport is owned and operated by Tamworth Regional Council
• a number of daily returned services operate between Tamworth, Sydney and Brisbane.
• The airport is home to Qantaslink Dash 8 heavy maintenance division, Sigma Aviation, Aviskills, Civil Aviation Safety Authority Regional Office and the International Flight Training Tamworth pilot training facilities. 
• 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 also includes The Qantas Club Lounge, located past the security screening point in the departure lounge.

4.8) Autonomous Electric Aircraft

Electric aircraft maker Wisk Aero is pushing to have its autonomous air taxis operating in Australia ahead of the 2032 Olympic games in Brisbane.

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.

5. Active Transport

With the New England region being a rural and bushland based area there is considerable opportunity for walking, jogging and cycling. However infrastructure constructed formally as Active Transport projects are rare. 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 council to audit the bike trails in their region.

6. Taxi and Uber

In the larger population towns like Armidale, Glen Innes and Tenterfield there are limited Taxi and Uber services. However they work quite restricted hours and distances. So there is considerable need to expand these services. It is highly likely that Government subsidies will be needed to make that happen.

7. 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. Riders must now wear bike helmets. Some even wear protective clothing, particlarly if riding off-road. 

Riding in gangs along public streets is now common, which places the riders at risk and in conflict with car drivers.

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 common

e-Bikes and e-Scooterss are capable of travelling at 100kph, seriously impinging on rider and road user safety.

Rules and regulations are now being developed by all state governments adopting a common standard.

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 the more populated parts of New England.

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 appears that legislative changes will allow bikes and scooters to be permitted to travel on  passenger trains with their owners. Rail operators will need to address some safety issues assciated with loading/unloading bikes, and fixing them securelky on the trains.

8. 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 by faster forms of active transport, especially when E bikes and E scooters are sharing the same path.

9. Mobility Scooters

Presently, it appears that there is no accessible transport for these types of disability vehicles!!!

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Rick Banyard
Project Director
New England Network
2-jun-2025