West of Maitland the line is formed of two tracks, with three in places, with the lines being shared with passenger trains operated by NSW TrainLink. East of Maitland the line is formed of four tracks with the southern pair exclusively for the use of coal trains with an underpass at Hanbury west of Waratah allowing trains to reach Port Waratah without having to interface with the northern pair of tracks. In 2006 the Sandgate Flyover was opened to similarly allow trains to access Kooragang Island. As at December 2012 there were 50 to 60 coal trains per day up to 1.5 kilometres in length.