The Bathurst Bullet is an express passenger train on the

Blue Mountains Line The Blue Mountains Line (BMT) is an inter urban commuter rail service operated by NSW TrainLink serving the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The line travels west from Sydney to the major town of Katoomba and on to Mount ...

operated by

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary inter ...

between Sydney and Bathurst. The service operates from Bathurst towards Sydney in the morning, and returns in the afternoon.

History

At the 2011 election, the incoming

Liberal/National coalition The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as "the Coalition" or informally as the LNP, is an alliance of centre-right political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. The two partners in ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

committed to introduce a day return service from Bathurst to Sydney for those working in Sydney. Bathurst was already served by the daily '' Central West XPT'' and weekly '' Outback Xplorer'' services, but these were morning departures from Sydney, returning in the afternoon. The last day return service to Sydney had ceased in November 1988, being replaced by road coach services connecting with train services at Lithgow. The ''Bathurst Bullet'' commenced operating on 21 October 2012.Bathurst Bullet embarks on maiden voyage
''Western Advocate'' 22 October 2012 It is operated by a diesel-powered two-carriage Endeavour railcar. Upon reaching Bathurst, it returns to Lithgow to stable overnight. During periods of high demand such as the

Sydney Royal Easter Show First held in 1823, the Sydney Royal Easter Show, commonly shortened to The Easter Show or The Show, is an annual show held in Sydney, Australia over two weeks around the Easter period. It comprises an agricultural show, an amusement park and a ...

, it is operated by two sets. In March 2014, a submission was made to extend the service to

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower * Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...

. The submission to extend the train service was not successful but a connecting road coach service commenced 15 June 2015 for a six-month trial instead. Since October 2019, all Bullet services have a road coach connecting with Orange. In August 2019 the NSW Government announced that a second daily return Bullet service will be started. The new service, known as ''Bathurst Bullet 2.0'', commenced on 16 September 2019, with both ''Bathurst Bullet'' services now stopping at Tarana and Rydal. On Wednesdays, the Bathurst Bullet 2.0 operates to a slightly delayed schedule, to accommodate for the

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, li ...

References

External links

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed Bathurst, New South Wales Named passenger trains of New South Wales Passenger rail transport in New South Wales Railway services introduced in 2012 2012 establishments in Australia