PASSENGERS headed to Sydney over the long weekend were greeted with the traditional trackwork disrupting the network. Direct buses to Sydney show, inadvertently, how much faster the trip to Central can be.
A politician with a promise about that train route, however, is far less surprising to many voters who have long hoped to see the meandering trip become a straighter shot into the state's biggest city.
On Saturday it was NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, who spruiked a $500 million investment in faster trips.
Work will start in 2025 under the budget promise, which the fine print also reveals is contingent upon the federal Labor government stumping up.
Promises of faster trains have been a hallmark of governments as they inch closer to election campaigns, as avid readers or train riders will know only too well. Where the buck stops, however, seems to be in any real-terms improvement to the speed of the trip.
It was a point Mr Perrottet's counterpart, NSW Labor leader Chris Minns, drove home. He pointed to the fact the same state government four years ago commissioned an independent report into options on high-speed rail.
"Dominic Perrottet is the third Liberal premier in 12 years to call for faster or high-speed rail before an election," Mr Minns said.
Labor is not without blame of the same trick, having pledged big money to explore the viability of such rail in elections over that same period, but ultimately bears less blame given it has not held office.
Political reality may mean that governments are eager to wring every bit of credit from every dollar they spend, particularly on major infrastructure projects. That is understandable, and a small price to pay for progress. But when the magic trick continues to lack pay-off, something is awry and the returns quickly diminish.
Business Hunter's enthusiasm for the state spend highlights precisely how valuable it could prove to the region.
The housing squeeze in our southern neighbour has inevitably pushed people further out than Sydney's suburbs. Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes has previously expressed disdain for the Hunter potentially becoming a "commuter suburb" to Sydney, which is a valid fear, yet there are almost certainly benefits to be gleaned without falling to that extreme.
To glean them, though, we must see action. Talk of 45-minute rides capture imaginations, but they do little for those who must travel to Sydney tomorrow or next month. Given how long these promises have been a mainstay of campaigning, it is remarkable the trip remains so time-consuming.
Whether it is faster trains, more frequent trains, high-speed rail or any of the plethora of options voters have navigated in recent years, the time has come to simply get on with it.
If Mr Perrottet's announcement bucks the trend, it is hard to imagine it will not translate to votes and opportunities. In the meantime, we just hope for trackwork.
