The route for the long-awaited Lower Hunter Freight Rail Corridor has finally been confirmed.
Land between Fassifern and Hexham will be secured and preserved by the NSW Government for the project which should ease congestion at notorious level-crossing choke points like Adamstown and Islington.
The planned route splits from the existing line north of Fassifern and continues on through a new tunnel past Barnsley and West Wallsend. It then tracks along beside the western edge of the M1 Pacific Motorway before turning east at Black Hill and linking back up with the main line at Tarro.
While the announcement is a significant milestone in the project, construction is still likely to be decades away.
More information can be found on the Transport Department’s website.