Weather impact and industrial action may increase delays and cancellations in Sydney

Monday, March 14, 2022

For weeks the commuters in Sydney have been facing delays and cancellations in the public transit network. The disruptions are continuing due to ongoing repairs and industrial action. The Electrical Trades Union have notified that the industrial action will take start from Monday. However it’s unlikely to impact the network this week.

Matt Longland, the Sydney Trains Chief Executive, has said that the network will eventually suffer if this action continues indefinitely. He said that this was effectively a work ban and the electrical staff undertaking certain maintenance duties. The staff will regularly perform the schedule of routine maintenance. Substations, overhead wiring and track points can’t be used if those maintenance activities have not been performed.

He fears that if the bans are indefinitely continued, this might result in safety hazards on the overall rail network and the growing portions of the network will be unable operate.

Replacement buses for the trains are in place in the event the action does disrupt services on the network. After Transport for NSW shut down the rail system, the commuters faced major disruptions last month. This happened amid a dispute with the railway workers union. The RTBU has been at loggerheads with the government since 2021 over a new enterprise agreement, with concerns regarding safety guarantees, hygiene and privatisation resulting in two work stoppages since September.

Several train lines continue to be impacted by the recent severe weather. The various crew teams working over the weekend to repair damaged routes. Mr Longland has said that disruptions remain on those lines that were severely impacted by the recent flood and weather events.

The T5 Cumberland line between Leppington and Richmond is not running any trains as much of the equipment was damaged by the storm. The trains are also running at lower frequencies to avoid damage to the existing infrastructure.

T9 Northern Line between Hornsby and the North Shore via the City and the T7 Olympic Park Line are also running the trains at a reduced rate due to the severe weather.

Due to the reduced number of trains, the busses have been increased to replace the trains between various lines like Penrith and Lithgow on the BMT Blue Mountains Line due to landslips at Zig Zag, Katoomba and Emu Plains.

Urgent track repairs at Town Hall has caused many trains to run late on Monday. The T2 Inner West and Leppington Line and T3 Bankstown Line trains running via the City Circle will run in one direction only, from Central first stop museum.

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