There are now four daily trains that carry passengers from Singleton to Newcastle, and a further four for the return trip, and with the coal industry continuing to expand, there are fears that the passenger service may be scaled down even further.

Two Singleton residents, Anne Boyd and Pauline Davoren have started a campaigned called TMT, or two more trains, for Singleton.

Their plan is to have additional services leaving Singleton for Newcastle at 8.45am and 4.20pm, and leaving Newcastle for Singleton at 7.18am and 2pm.

These additional services would be an extension of existing services from Newcastle to Maitland.

“The present Cityrail service to Newcastle and Sydney operates at inconvenient times and has a very limited service,” Mrs Boyd said.

“After the train that leaves Singleton at 10.43am, there isn’t another train until 7.30pm.

“Nine hours is far too great a gap between services.”

Mrs Davoren said the expected growth in Singleton and other areas in the Lower Hunter should translate to an increase in public transport services.

According to the State Government’s Lower Hunter Regional Strategy, growth predictions have forecast an extra 160,000 people in the region over the next 25 years.

Singleton itself has a growth forecast of 1.5 per cent per year, which equates to around 250 new residents a year.

“There is already a lot of traffic on the roads going to and from Newcastle and this is only going to increase with more people coming to live here,” Mrs Davoren said.

“This, as well as rising petrol prices, means there is a need for increased rail services.”

One of the major beneficiaries of the plan would be students who travel to Newcastle for University, College and TAFE.

Bianca Benn, who studies remedial massage at Newcastle, said she had given up on public transport because of the inconvenient timetable.

“I can’t take the bus because I have too much equipment to carry and I haven’t caught a train for college in months because it doesn’t fit with my course times,” she said.

“I know a lot of younger people who would use the trains if they ran more regularly.”

Mrs Boyd and Mrs Davoren will be distributing information to train travellers this week and are organising for a petition to be signed and to be forwarded to State Minister for Transport, John Watkins, to consider the additional services.

Mrs Boyd and Mrs Davoren are asking Singleton residents that are supportive of their cause to contact them by phone on 6572 4841 or email ppdav@optusnet.com.au to strengthen their case.