The Sydney–Brisbane rail corridor now branches off the Great Northern Railway after Maitland and follows the North Coast line.

The line is then largely double track through the northern suburbs of Sydney, crossing the Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge, before passing through the Central Coast.

Muswellbrook is the junction point for the former cross country line to Sandy Hollow and Gulgong.

Until the mid-2000s freight traffic continued to the disused station at Dumaresq which is home to a now-also-disused agricultural fertilizer depot.

[2][3] At a public meeting for the company's establishment in 1853, William Charles Wentworth envisioned the line's extension to Scone up north and Sydney down south.

The GNR was then extended beyond Scone to Werris Creek and West Tamworth in 1878, Armidale in 1883, and reached the Queensland border at Wallangarra in 1888.

[6] In 1892, the line was duplicated from Strathfield to Hornsby,[7] and electrified in 1926 as part of the Bradfield electrification scheme.

[11] The Northern Tablelands Express provided a daylight service to Glen Innes, with some journeys extended to Tenterfield until truncated in October 1985 to Armidale[12] and in February 1990 to Tamworth.

[13] NSW TrainLink operates regional and intercity passenger services along the Main North line.

The section between Strathfield and Maitland forms part of the interstate line between Sydney and Brisbane and sees intermodal freight traffic carried between the two cities.

The last train to operate north of Tenterfield was an Australian Railway Historical Society charter on 15 January 1988 hauled by diesel locomotive 4487.

[15][16] Following the Northern Tablelands Express being truncated in February 1990, the line north of Tamworth saw little use until the Xplorer service was introduced to Armidale in October 1993.

The line to Glen Innes was still open in July 1992 when diesel locomotive 4499 operated a crew training service.

Because of the location of the overpass relative to the branch to Kooragang Island, a short section of the line has 6 parallel tracks.

Jenny Aitchison MP for Maitland and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads answered saying it required a business case.