Train woes continue amid high winds, derailment confirmation; Watts explains why feds didn’t intervene

Fallen trees are the latest hurdle to rail travel amid confirmation a train derailed as commuters faced day two of travel chaos, and the federal government reveals why it didn’t intervene.

There are fresh woes on Sydney’s rail network on Friday afternoon, as fallen trees further test the patience of delay-weary commuters.

It comes after conformation a passenger train derailed in the city’s outer west at the height of the government’s dispute with rail unions, and federal Industrial Relations minister Murray Watt explained why the federal government did not enter the fray.

TREES DOWN

Beleaguered commuters on the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line are beset by a complete service shutdown due to not one, but two fallen trees on the track on wild weather.

Services were delayed on Friday morning by a fallen tree at Kirrawee, before another one at St Peters caused services to halt altogether.

“Trains are not running between Hurstville and Sydenham in both directions due to a tree blocking the track at St Peters,” a service update read.

“Limited buses are replacing trains from 3pm — delay travel if possible, consider catching the Metro between Martin Place and Sydenham, or other nearby public transport services to continue your journey.”

Commuters on this line were hit with a double whammy earlier this week with combined Rail, Train and Bus Union and Electrical Trades Union industrial action resulting in a perfect storm of slow trains, service cancellations, and signal failures resulting in trains being delayed by more than 250 minutes.

Some commuters heading south on the T8 line have had to change trains at Wolli Creek to avoid the snarl.

The train can be seen off the tracks after derailing at Clarendon in Sydney's west on Thursday. Picture: Supplied

DERAILMENT

The derailment in the city’s outer west near the Richmond RAAF base came on Thursday morning as the train was travelled east along the T1 Richmond line to Central Station via Blacktown. No passengers were injured in the derailment.

Sydney Trains is investigating the incident.

It is understood from early investigations the driver was braking to stop at Clarendon Station when the train continued past the platform and a red-stop signal.

The front carriage of the Waratah A-set train derailed as a result.

‘MAINTENANCE BACKLOG’

Despite the fallen trees creating fresh dramas on Friday, NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said train services had largely improved across Sydney following an interim order to pause industrial work bans. Services between Newcastle and The Central Coast remain impacted by delays and cancellations.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen. Picture: Thomas Lisson

“We have had a more difficult day on our intercity services,” Ms Haylen said.

“We had a 35 per cent on-time running figure, mainly because of the works we’ve discussed previously that are required at the Gosford (train) yard.

“We do now have a maintenance backlog that the teams at Sydney Trains will prioritise to work through … to make them reliable and available for us again.”

However, despite an improved 93 per cent run time for suburban city services, Ms Haylen said Friday was “not a day of celebration for the government”.

The comment comes after the Fair Work Commission issued an interim order in favour of the government on Thursday afternoon, bringing industrial action to a halt.

“We are preparing our case on the basis of economic and community harm, to be considered by the Commission next week,” Ms Haylen said.

‘NOT OUR BATTLE’: WATT

Meanwhile, Mr Watt acknowledged while the federal government had the power to intervene in the rail union dispute, it chose not to step in to prevent the commuter meltdown: it was not their battle to fight.

“I absolutely understand a huge frustration of Sydney commuters in having their travel journeys so impeded over the last few days,” Mr Watt said at a press conference in Newcastle on Friday.

“This is a long-running dispute between the State Government and a number of unions and it is their responsibility to actually come to a resolution and put the travelling public first.

“Frankly it is important that the parties sit down and work this out.”

Federal Industrial Relations Minister Murray Watt. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr Watt said he would not intervening when an application had already been made by the NSW Government to the Fair Work Commission.

“There’s no need for a Federal Government to be intervening (and) duplicating something that the NSW Government is already doing by taking this matter to the commission,” he added.

Taking a swipe at his opposition counterpart Michaelia Cash for her calls for the Federal Government to step in and take charge, Mr Watt accused her of hypocrisy.

“I think we just take with a grain of salt the things that are coming out of the mouth of people like Michaelia Cash about what our government should do when they never once did the same thing when they had the power,” Mr Watt said.

Originally published as Train woes continue amid high winds, derailment confirmation; Watts explains why feds didn’t intervene