THE first passengers on a new coach service linking Inverell, Tingha, Bundarra and Yarrowyck to the Xplorer train at Armidale made the inaugural trip this morning.
A spokesman for Friends of the Northern Railway (FONR), Don Martin, said for many years the residents of Inverell had been asking for a more direct coach connection between their town and the Xplorer.
Until now, the only connection was by a long bus journey of over three and half hours to Tamworth. On the new service passengers are on the bus for just over two hours and join the train at Armidale.
“We are a little disappointed that the new service still takes two hours to travel between Inverell and Armidale,” Mr Martin said.
“This means that Inverell passengers leave a little earlier than present and arrive home a little later. Nevertheless we are confident the benefits of making the transfer between coach and train at Armidale, instead of Tamworth, will outweigh the slightly longer overall journey time.”
Passengers from Inverell and the intermediate centres on , now join the train at 8.45am, and can immediately enjoy a hot breakfast snack on the train. Similarly on the return journey, they can have an on-board evening meal before joining the coach at 6.30pm.
Members of the FONR were at Armidale this morning to welcome the first passengers.