“In my opinion, it is abundantly clear from looking at the draft timetable that Transport for NSW is focusing solely on providing very good service for Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong at the expense of those residents living between Moss Vale and Goulburn,” Mr Price said.

The SN46 currently leaves Goulburn at 4.59am and arrives at Town Hall at 8.23am.

However, if the state government gets its way the first commuter train out of Goulburn will be the SN20, which departs Goulburn at 5.31am and arrives in Macarthur at 7.35am.

Passengers will then change trains, before eventually arriving at Town Hall at 8.47am.

This, Mr Price says, will make it impossible for commuters who start work in Sydney at 9am to arrive on time.

It isn’t just the early morning commuters who will be disadvantaged, with trains in and out of Sydney also being pushed back.

Currently the SN54 departs Goulburn at 7.14am and arrives at Central at 10am. Under the draft this train would become the SN32, which would depart at 7.40am and arrive at 10.34am, with an additional stop being added at Tahmoor.

The SN71, which leaves Central at 3.48pm and arrives in Goulburn at 6.57pm, will be delayed by 14 minutes at 4.02pm and arriving at 7.07pm.

However, the last train from Campbelltown will depart four minutes earlier at 6.19pm and arrive at 8.37pm.

“It could reasonably be argued that this situation has been allowed to occur over time by local MPs – both past and present – and railway managers only recognising the Southern Highlands Commuters Association to the exclusion of any other community needs.

Indeed, some years ago when commuters tried to form a Southern Tablelands Commuters Association, rail managers would not meet with them,” Mr Price said.

“Goulburn is the southern end of Sydney’s outer metropolitan area, not Moss Vale. It is time our local Member of State Parliament and Transport for NSW insisted that the Commuters Association had a fair representation on its executive from the whole line from Campbelltown to Goulburn everyone’s needs were taken into consideration, not just the current narrow focus that currently prevails.”

Member for Goulburn Pru Goward told the Post she had been in constant contact with the Minister for Transport lobbying to improve services across the entire electorate but urged people to wait until the final timetable had been released before passing judgement.

“As the Minister for Transport said a couple of weeks ago, the timetable is still in draft stage and there is plenty of work to do before it is finalised – there has already been more than 300 variations in recent months and nine testing processes still to go through,” Ms Goward said.

“By writing the timetable from scratch the Government is working to develop a timetable that will deliver the best possible outcome for everyone using our infrastructure and rolling stock to achieve the maximum benefit. I have and will continue to lobby the Minister for improved services for the entire electorate.”

A spokesperson for Transport NSW also stressed that the timetable was still at draft stage and that there was still plenty of work to do before it would be finalised.

“Rail customers will be closely consulted with and receive plenty of notice before the new timetable is introduced in October,” he said.

“The NSW Government is carrying out a major rewrite of the timetable to get more out of the network for customers. The new timetable will move the network closer to the three tier model outlined in Sydney’s Rail Future, which includes rapid transit, suburban and intercity trains.

“The timetable will be simpler, with fewer stopping patterns. This means customers can expect more consistent service times, particularly in peak periods. For example, trains will come at more regular intervals.”