This is a video showcasing the various freight train operations of the Hunter region of New South Wales. In this video a variety of container, grain, steel and cement trains are shown. The freight trains in this video are operated by Pacific National, Aurizon, SSR (Southern Shorthaul Railroad) and Qube.

The Hunter region is located 162 km North of Sydney NSW and is home to about 682,000 people. It is a major industrial and mining region with one of the worlds largest coal export ports at its heart in Newcastle. It also has a growing tourism and wine industry.

The freight trains operate through the Hunter region on the NSW Main North Railway and the NSW North Coast Railway. The railways of the Hunter region provide the only link for freight trains to access Queensland and carry large quantities of interstate containerised goods and steel mostly on trains between Brisbane and Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. The railways of the Hunter region also carry grain traffic from the northern inland areas of NSW to the Port of Newcastle for export as well as local cement traffic to the sydney region.

The NSW Main North Railway currently runs from Strathfield to Armidale and opened in stages from 1857 to 1888 and was the original railway to Queensland with a break of gauge station on the Queensland border at Wallangarra. The section of the main north line between Armidale and Wallangarra closed in 1991. The NSW Main North Railway is built to 1435 mm standard gauge. Queensland's railways are built to 1067mm narrow gauge. The NSW Main North Railway is managed and maintained by ARTC (Australian Rail Track Corporation) on a long lease from the NSW Government. The line also carries passenger trains operated by NSW Trainlink.

The NSW North Coast Railway runs from Maitland Railway Station in the Hunter Region to Roma Street Railway Station in Brisbane. The railway was built in stages between 1905 and 1932 finally opening in 1932 after a major bridge over the Clarence River was completed at Grafton NSW. This line was also built to 1435 mm standard gauge and provides the only cross border railway into Queensland from NSW and the rest of Australia even to this day. Thus the NSW North Coast Railway is of national strategic importance for the movement of freight. The NSW North Coast Railway is managed and maintained by ARTC (Australian Rail Track Corporation) on a long lease from the NSW Government. However the section of the line between Acacia Ridge and Roma Street Brisbane is owned and maintained by Queensland Rail. The line also carries passenger trains operated by NSW Trainlink.

There is a second 1435 mm standard gauge route into Queensland under construction that will provide a direct inland route from Melbourne to Brisbane via Western NSW and the Darling Downs region of Queensland but the construction is significantly delayed and mired in political fighting over the route and flooding issues in the Queensland. Due to the delays on constructing the Inland Railway the NSW North Coast Railway will remain the only railway link to Queensland for at least the next decade.

The footage in this video was produced in 2023.
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