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KATOOMBA, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia – Contracts worth $75 million have been signed for the Blue Mountains rail line to be upgraded to enable new intercity trains to travel through to Lithgow.

The works involving track upgrades, extensions to platforms at Mount Victoria, Katoomba and Lithgow stations, and signalling work is expected to get underway in February.

Tunnels more than a hundred years old between Mount Victoria and Lithgow will also be enlarged so the new trains can travel through them safely.

The state government signed contracts this week with Lendlease Engineering and CPB Contractors for the project.

The works have become necessary as the new intercity trains under construction in South Korea would not be able to run on the tracks as they currently are.

“Parts of our network are over 150 years old and these upgrades are necessary to ensure it can accommodate the requirements of modern trains,” Transport Minister Andrew Constance said Friday.

“We always intended to modify rail infrastructure on the Blue Mountains line west of Springwood, so that the new intercity fleet trains can operate all the way to Lithgow.”

The new trains are expected to be running between the Blue Mountains and Lithgow by mid-2020.