They will work at sites across the Hunter rail corridor from Newcastle’s port to Narrabri and from Muswellbrook to Ulan.

While the shutdown officially runs until late Thursday evening, ARTC said there would also be some local works at the Kooragang Coal Terminal that would run through to Friday afternoon.

“These shutdowns are planned more than a year in advance to allow customers to manage their throughput and production schedules and to ensure integration across the intricately managed Hunter coal chain,” ARTC HV executive general Jonathan Vandervoort said.

The circa $A20 million of rail maintenance work was considered especially important to ensure quality of the track following the recent wild weather events in New South Wales.