According to the timetable given to me recently by TrainLink, Orange, the 4.55am coach from Orange arrives in Lithgow, after dropping off passengers for the Bullet train in Bathurst, six minutes before the Bullet train.
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So why the bullet train from Bathurst?
It could start in Lithgow at 6.55am as shown on the timetable giving passengers nine minutes to change from coach to train - longer than the time in Bathurst.
Then coming home there is a wait of 15 minutes between the arrival of the inter-city train and the coach departure in Lithgow and, again, a wait at Bathurst of 20 minutes for the Bullet train.
If the coach waited at Lithgow for 35 minutes it would enable Bullet train passengers time to catch the coach and Orange residents would arrive home at 10.45pm as at present.
This would save running the Bullet train backwards and forwards between Lithgow and Bathurst for no gain.
Save money, and the coach seats are more comfortable.
This arrangement may upset some people in Bathurst but it may bring forward a true fast train from the Central West.