Metro passengers shocked as door wide open during service from Victoria Cross to city

Commuters crammed into a Sydney Metro running in the city on Wednesday morning were shocked to find a door wide open while the service was running.

City commuters crammed into a Sydney Metro running between Chatswood and Crows Nest were shocked to find a door wide open while the service was making its way to the next stop.

Video obtained by The Daily Telegraph shows a packed metro, roughly just after 8am, with what appears to be two workers dressed in black blocking the exit.

Some commuters were seen filming the doors and looking shocked at what they were seeing with “this door is out of service” written on the digital board above the exit.

The two workers, with earpieces in, were seen talking into a two-way radio as passengers stood directly behind as the service continued to run.

One of the workers guarding the door while speaking into the two-way radio.

Metro Trains Sydney Chief Executive Daniel Williams said the door fault was being investigated after it was identified about 8.01am with the service travelling between Chatswood and Crows Nest.

“There was Customer Journey Coordinator (CJC) and Customer Operations Lead (COL) on board the service,” Mr Williams said.

“They were contacted by our Operational Control Centre. They tried to remotely fix the issue. When this was unsuccessful, the OCC instructed the frontline staff to manually close the door.”

Mr Williams said two staff members stood by the door until the service came to a stop “to complete its short journey”.

RTBU secretary Toby Warnes said commuters should “never have been put in such a dangerous position.” Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“The door was able to be closed at the next station, and the metro removed from service,” he said.

“We apologise to customers for the concern this caused.”

But Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) secretary Toby Warnes slammed the error and called for the Sydney Metro to stop operations immediately.

“It’s a miracle that no one was hurt, or worse, on the Metro this morning,” Mr Warnes said.

“The Metro services need to stop service immediately until an interim safety plan, at a minimum, is put in place to ensure this won’t happen again.

“Imagine if there was a small child standing near that door. This is a huge safety risk that needs to be rectified immediately.

Mr Warnes said the incident proved the Metro needed more staff as the system “doesn’t have a mature enough safety protocol system in place to deal with issues like this”.

“Anyone wondering why we need workers on our Metro services only needs to look at this video,” he said.

“You can’t have trains – Metro or otherwise – driving without qualified people on board to keep passengers safe in the event this goes wrong.”

Originally published as Metro passengers shocked as door wide open during service from Victoria Cross to city