Local MP urges NSW Government to move forward on the vital project.
A road and rail bypass through the town of Scone should have been built by now, its local federal representative says.
Instead, construction on the project has not yet started.
Member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon says the NSW Government has dragged its feet on the project, while the numbers and lengths of trains moving coal through the town have increased.
“More trains are an unequivocally good thing for the Hunter’s economy,” he told the ABC.
“But we need to take account of local community amenity and, in particular, community safety.”
Fitzgibbon says $45 million of federal funding was set aside three years ago.
“It frustrates the hell of me that not one cent of that money has yet been spent.”
Aurizon is expected to haul 6.4 million tonnes of coal from Whitehaven’s new Maules Creek mine along the local rail line over the next year.