The saving was four minutes better than the State Rail Authority had estimated during the publicity build-up to the train’s introduction.

As it sped like a ribbon of silver with amber-coloured mirrored windows, country people came out and waved. Schoolchildren lined the roads and council dignitaries met railway officials at the eight towns stopped on the way.

The XPT reached a top speed pf 160 km/h between Blacktown and Penrith for about seven kilometres yesterday morning. It has achieved speeds of up to 183 km/h during trials.

As for smoothness just ask Gus Carr, the corridor guard, who will ride the XPT to and from Orange three times a week: “It’s terrific mate. She’s made beautiful. You don’t get as many bumps. You can move on this.”

Graham Davis, 33, from Melbourne, arranged his annual holiday so he could be on the first run. A member of the NSW Rail Transport Museum, Australian Railways Historical Society and the Association of Railway Enthusiasts, he says he’s been chasing trains for 20 years.

With a stack of logbooks, he made an entry of the time the XPT went through every station. He checked real times with timetable times: “we were two minutes early at Lithgow, on time at Bathurst.”