“We want to thank the State Emergency Service for their hard work and expertise as we worked closely to understand the movements of the flood waters on a daily and at times hourly basis,” the Australian Rail Track Corporation said late Wednesday afternoon.

“ARTC continues to work closely with our customers to restore normal passenger, coal and freight operations across the network and we thank them for their patience.”

The rail authority said its maintenance crews will work to return track to normal operating conditions over the next two weeks.

“This will involve heavy track repair machines working around-the-clock conducting track resurfacing and rail grinding,” ARTC said.

“This is essential to get the network back up and running and we apologise to residents for any inconvenience.”

Heavy rainfalls are forecasted for the Hunter Valley over the next three days but strong winds are expected in the coastal areas of northern New South Wales while there are fears of facing cyclone-like conditions in southeast Queensland.