Newcastle once had rail passenger services to Belmont and Toronto, on Lake Macquarie, Wallsend, Kurri Kurri and several towns and villages between Maitland and Cessnock on the South Maitland Railway, but these lines have been closed. In the late-1990s there was intense debate about the future of the rail line into central Newcastle. The New South Wales government had planned to cut the line at Broadmeadow station, ending rail services into Newcastle station in the city centre to allow better connections between the city and the waterfront precinct. This proposal was dropped in 2006.