It paves the way for the tracks to be removed and major works to get under way, more than 10 months after the government ceased running trains into Newcastle  station.

Another $50 million has been promised by the Baird government to the project, lifting the total budget to $510 million – after it acquiesced to five conditions crossbench MPs from the Shooters and Fishers Party imposed as the price for securing their crucial votes of support.

“Today is the start of Newcastle’s tomorrow and we can crack on with revitalisation,’’ Transport Minister Andrew Constance said.

“With today’s bill, we now have the certainty to forge ahead and deliver on our promise to roll out light rail, allowing Newcastle to capitalise on this opportunity for renewal and reach its potential as an economic, social and cultural centre."

But the Greens, who opposed the legislation along with Labor, the Christian Democrats and the Animal Justice Party, labelled the outcome a betrayal of the Hunter community and accused the government of selling out to developer spivs.

The government also agreed to the Shooters’ demands that it enact legislation as soon as possible to ensure all the proceeds it receives from any development on the existing rail corridor will be reinvested back into efforts to revitalise the city centre.

It has undertaken to use its ‘‘best endeavours’’ to obtain expressions of interest from Hunter-based manufacturers to supply light rail rolling stock, and to ensure the trams accommodate passengers with disabilities, and people with prams, surfboards, pushbikes, and fishing rods. 

And it agreed to immediately start on a business case for the extension of the planned light rail network to at least Broadmeadow, Hunter Stadium, Adamstown and Mayfield.

But neither it nor the Shooters would not back amendments proposed by the Greens to make Newcastle City Council the planning consent authority for all land in the city centre, consistent with the Premier Mike Baird’s promise that the council would be given the ‘‘final say’’ over any development in the corridor.

Currently, the council determines most applications, except for development worth more than $20 million, or proposals worth more that $5million that are lodged by or on behalf of the Crown, which are determined by a Joint Regional Planning Panel.

Roads Minister Duncan Gay said ad-hoc changes to planning laws would create problems and should not be added to a stand-alone bill.

Shooters MP Robert Brown said he and colleague Robert Borsak  warned crossbenchers would start blocking other legislation if the government went back on its word.

‘‘We’ve gone a long, long way to getting what I see as almost the very best, not quite the very best, outcome for the people of Newcastle on this particular subject,’’ Mr Brown said.

Labor MP Penny Sharpe said the government could not be trusted and ‘‘what we will see today is the corridor getting ready to be sold to the highest bidder, again another broken promise’’.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said the government would now have the ‘‘usual suspects’’, including former lord mayor Jeff McCloy, ‘‘circling around like blowflies’’ to get their hands on the corridor.

Mr Gay described the Greens as spouting ‘‘a tirade of venom’’. 

The bill puts an end to the saga over whether the government has the authority to pull out the tracks after Supreme Court action by Save Our Rail stopped it fromdoing so.

The group successfully argued an act of parliament was needed to shut the line. The government appealed the ruling, but a decision is still pending.

Save Our Rail president Joan Dawson said the group was disappointed but would continue to fight.

Hunter Business Chamber chief executive Kristen Keegan said the city had been held to ransom by a vocal minority for too long ‘‘but today is a clear sign they have lost the argument and it’s time for everyone to adopt a positive outlook for the future’’.