At its northern extent, the MRA is bounded by the terminal station
Newcastle Interchange, and previously by the former terminal station at . The northern section of the network extends 165 kilometres from and is electrified for its entire length. The
Main North railway continues north from into the ARTC-operated Hunter Valley network. At its western extent, the MRA is bounded by the former station at Bowenfels, a few kilometres west of the town of
Lithgow. In practice, the last MRA station is . The western section of the network extends 158 kilometres from Central and is electrified for its entire length. The
Main West railway continues west from Bowenfels into the Transport for New South Wales operated Country Regional Network. At its south-western extent, the MRA is bounded by the rural locality of Glenlee. The last metropolitan station is , in
Campbelltown. The south-western section of the network extends 58 kilometres from Central and is electrified for its entire length. The
Main South railway continues south from Glenlee into the ARTC-operated interstate network. At its south-eastern extent, the MRA is bounded by Bomaderry station. The south-eastern ("Illawarra") section of the network extends 154 kilometres from Central and is electrified as far south as (119 kilometres from Central). Bomaderry is also the terminus of the
South Coast railway. The ARTC-operated interstate network joins the South Coast railway at , south of
Wollongong. The
Southern Sydney Freight Line and
Sydney Freight Network are physically within, but do not form part of, the MRA. These are reserved for use by freight trains and are operated and maintained by ARTC. == Operations ==