Track work postponed to give Knights fans a smooth ride to grand final

The regional transport minister has sought to reassure Knights fans by postponing track work on the Newcastle train line scheduled for grand final day to avoid another commuter bungle.

The vulnerability of the state's public transport system was in the spotlight after masses of Newcastle Knights fans, heading to Sydney for the NRL preliminary final, experienced major delays yesterday.

Replacement buses and trains eventually arrived at the impacted stations, but hundreds of fans were left in the lurch for hours.

Now, as the Knights return to Sydney this weekend for their first grand final in 25 years, three Labor MPs from the Hunter, Jenny Aitchison, Kate Washington and Tim Crankanthorp, posted to social media that planned track works would be rescheduled.

"We've postponed Sunday's track work on the Newcastle line, so Knights fans get a clean run through to the Grand Final,"

the post said.

'It was a joke'

Shane Clenton was one of the many Novocastrians who boarded the train at Morisset station to get to the NRL preliminary final.

But shortly after 10am, multiple wheels on a Pacific National freight train failed near Wyee, which left all public transport in that direction at a standstill for hours.

It is the third incident involving a Pacific National train in the past two months.

Mr Clenton said it was "light-hearted at first", but the novelty soon wore off.

"[At first] everyone was in high spirits and the Newcastle chant was happening. It was just red and blue everywhere, but then [the mood] turned into more frustration," he said.

"There was no word of buses or anything … it was a joke."

After hours of waiting, Mr Clenton decided to drive to Sydney with a friend instead.

"I was speaking to some other young blokes who were getting that desperate they tried to hire a limousine … it was going to cost them $2,000,"

he said.

Cass Pascoe arrived at Morisset station at 9:35am yesterday and waited for a replacement train until almost 3pm.

"There wasn't much communication [about what was happening]," she said.

"Once every half an hour it was mentioned that the train was waiting on signals to leave and the freight train was stopped and that's the only information we had for three hours.

"We actually considered going back and watching the game at home."

Head of rail operations at Transport for NSW, Jas Tumber, said Pacific National would be investigating the root cause of the breakdown.

"We'll be following this up with Pacific National to understand why the defects on those two wagons were there," he said.

"I'd like to apologise to those passengers and those Knights fans who were stuck in the disruption."

Fans elated

Despite the transport frustrations, Knights fans across the Hunter region were feeling jubilant this morning.

Celebrations went well into last night, with red and blue taking over pubs and streets across Newcastle.

Fans gathered in the rain on the roadside at Knights headquarters late last night to welcome the team home.

Singleton woman Laura Lomax said the win was "better than Lego".

She remembered the last time the Knights were victorious, downing the highly fancied Parramatta Eels in a grand final a quarter of a century ago.

"I was there for the parade when they came back in Newcastle in 2001 and partied in the park," she said.

Her two sons, Cooper and Harry, shared her excitement and pride.

"I've been a Newcastle fan for as long as I can remember, and obviously wasn't around for the last win that we've had, so it's very exciting to see them get through," Cooper said.

"It was a great game; that last try nearly killed me… There were some tears shed," Harry said.

As for this weekend's grand final?

"They'll be serving up some roast chook, that's for sure," said Cooper.

"You've got all of the Hunter behind you. Let's do it, boys,"