THE NSW Government has pushed forward the replacement of trains running on the Sydney to Melbourne line.
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Extra money has been announced for the ageing regional fleet in NSW, starting with new XPT passenger cars.
The procurement process for the new trains will start in the first half of next year, which Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said would be two years earlier than was promised.
The new fleet will replace the 60 XPT passenger cars operating on the TrainLink network, including the route from Sydney to Melbourne.
“We’ve already committed to starting planning for a faster, modern, comfortable country train fleet by 2019, but we’re not going to wait,” Deputy Premier Troy Grant said. “We’re getting the ball rolling now so we can get contracts signed in this term of government and new trains on our tracks earlier.
“This is a real commitment to rail passengers in the bush and we expect it to also generate regional maintenance jobs.”