Weston resident Peter Richardson was among a handful of Cessnock residents who took a symbolic last train ride to Newcastle station on Friday.
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Once a month he catches a bus from Cessnock to Maitland station to ride the train into the beaches near Newcastle station for some leisure and to access services.
Mr Richardson said truncating the line at Wickham would create chaos.
“A few weeks ago they were doing track work and it was an absolute shemozzle at Hamilton station,” he said. “You can tell what it will be like after Boxing Day.”
Between December 26 and January 4 all Hunter line trains will terminate at Broadmeadow.
From January 5 trains will terminate at Hamilton which will serve as a temporary interchange for busses.
The Greens Cessnock councillor James Ryan organised the protest partly to inform people in the Coalfields the line is being truncated.
“The upper house inquiry [into Hunter planning processes] made the observation that Maitland had not been consulted,” he said.
“The same can be said about Cessnock.
“I think the government has miscalculated, they need to let people know what’s going on,” he said.
“The Rover buses [from Cessnock] regularly stop here [at Maitland] for people to catch the train to Newcastle.”
