A disabled veteran was forced to suffer through his first ever "depressing" Christmas due to a train station fault.
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Van Nguyen served in the navy for eight years and uses a mobility scooter due to a "bad accident" suffered during this time.
In 2018, he moved to Millthorpe and has utilised the town's train station to frequent Orange, Dubbo and other areas of the Central West.
But since mid-November 2023, due to a misalignment of the train carriage and platform that caters for ramp access, the wheelchair ramp boarding assistance facility has been unavailable for his use.
The first time he discovered the issue he thought "fair enough, now I know".
He avoided using the station for a few weeks as he assumed work would take place to rectify the issue.
Having given it time, he made another booking in early December.
"I pay my money thinking the train is back to normal," he said.
"I go down there and they only ring me about ten minutes before the train gets here to tell me they can't pick me up, but they can bring me home, which is a bit pointless."
Although Newman's Coaches also provide wheelchair access and have scheduled services between Millthorpe and Orange, Mr Nguyen catches the train "all the time because it's a lot quicker to get into town."
A self-described "loner", he had hoped to travel into Orange on December 25 for the annual Christmas Lunch.
Having been more than a month since the issue of disabled access was first noted, Mr Nguyen assumed repairs had been made.
He went to the train station but once again was told by staff they would not be able to pick him up.
"I pretty much didn't go anywhere that day," he said.
"For the first time in my life, Christmas was really depressing. It was the same for New Year's Eve."
After being contacted by the Central Western Daily about the issue faced by Mr Nguyen and others who need a ramp to board the train, Transport for NSW said it would start work a few days later.
"The process to update the location of the platform markers is starting on Monday, January 15, and Millthorpe Station should be fully accessible in both directions by the end of the week," a spokeswoman said.
"Transport for NSW has been working with our regional rail operator NSW TrainLink and the rail infrastructure manager since November 2023 to relocate the platform markers, and has provided alternative transport to and from Orange for those customers who require wheelchair access.
"We apologise to anyone impacted by this temporary inconvenience over the past weeks."
The rail infrastructure manager is UGL Regional Linx.