The incident took place at Kankool at about 5:15am local time on Sunday with 19 of the 82 wagons ending up derailed.

The site is located almost halfway between the town of Gunnedah and Newcastle.

“We’re conducting a full assessment of the impact but at this stage we don’t expect there will be any major issues,” a Whitehaven spokesman told ICN.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation is expecting the affected section of the rail line to reopen on February 20. Heavy cranes were mobilised to the site yesterday.

The derailment scene is close to the New England Highway, creating separate safety risks.

“Given the nature of the site and its proximity to the highway ARTC asks that motorists take care driving past the site,” ARTC said.

“Traffic management is in place, however there have been a number of near misses with people stopping without warning to view the site. We would like to thank our customers for their patience while we work to return services as quickly and safely as possible.”