Hopes are fading for faster train services from Newcastle to Sydney as the federal government prepares to announce the results of its snap infrastructure pipeline review.
The federal and state governments committed a combined $1.5 billion last year towards track and platform improvements between Wyong and Tuggerah to enable faster rail on the existing track.
The project includes 10 kilometres of upgrades, two new electrified rail tracks, new platforms and station upgrades at Wyong and Tuggerah, new dual track bridges over the Wyong River and safeguarding future fast rail connections to the north and south.
The two extra tracks would allow faster services to overtake slower passenger services and freight trains.
A suite of "faster rail" projects such as the Wyong-Tuggerah work could ultimately cut 35 minutes off the journey, making the trip two hours long.
But the Wyong-Tuggerah project, which has a total price tag of $2 billion, has been caught up in Infrastructure Minister Catherine King's review of planned government investment in road and rail upgrades.
The state government scrapped its $500 million commitment to the project when it abandoned its "Fast Rail Program" in the September budget, passing over responsibility for improving travel times to the federal government's new High Speed Rail Authority.
The NSW government's decision followed its own review of infrastructure investments and left the federal government to go it alone on the $2 billion Central Coast project.
The chances of the upgrades proceeding look remote after Ms King said on Monday that the previous government had left the infrastructure investment pipeline in an "absolute mess" and cuts would be made in the face of $33 billion in cost overruns.
The International Monetary Fund has warned Australian governments to rein in infrastructure spending to help control inflation.
A spokesperson for Ms King told the Newcastle Herald that the minister had received the "Independent Strategic Review of the Infrastructure Investment Program" report and was considering it in detail.
"It highlights how badly the Liberals and Nationals managed the Infrastructure Investment Program during their wasted decade, and, because of the mess the Coalition left, the government cannot afford to meet identified cost pressures or add new projects in the next 10 years without significant changes," the spokesperson said.
"The minister is consulting closely with her state and territory counterparts and federal colleagues to determine how to proceed in a way that best serves the interests of the Australian public and doesn't contribute to inflation and cost-of-living pressures."
Ms King said on Monday that she would announce the government's response to the report recommendations "shortly".
The government's dire forecasts on infrastructure spending suggest the High Speed Rail Authority will struggle to find traction for a project destined to cost tens of billions of dollars, if not more.
Ms King said during a visit to the Hunter in July that a high-speed rail line from Newcastle to Sydney would be "transformational" for the Hunter economy.
The Albanese government committed $500 million to high-speed rail early works and corridor acquisition between Sydney and Newcastle in October 2022.
The Wyong to Tuggerah project differs from high-speed rail, which involves a dedicated new line and has the potential to cut travel times from Newcastle to Sydney to less than an hour.
The Tuggerah to Wyong project was announced by the former federal Coalition government in March 2022, two months before the federal election.
A 2021 Australasian Railway Association report found inter-city rail travel times which were competitive with road travel were crucial to increasing train usage.
