Commuter chaos as technical issue causes major delays on Sydney trains
MASSIVE disruptions on Sydney’s beleaguered train system were not the fault of front-line staff, who did not deserve abuse from customers, NSW’s transport minister has said.
NSW
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MASSIVE disruptions on Sydney’s beleaguered train system were not the fault of front-line staff, who did not deserve abuse from customers, NSW’s transport minister has said.
In a statement tonight, Andrew Constance said the performance of Sydney’s rail network over the past 24 hours had been “unacceptable”, and he apologised to customers.
“I understand that yesterday evening, a metallic balloon found its way into a tunnel and caused an overhead electricity wire to short,” he said.
“This led to a major incident in which Sydney Trains had to disembark passengers in a tunnel.
“This was coupled with a software failure at Transport for NSW that lead to the rebooting of the entire IT network. There were elements of the system that failed to reboot properly, resulting in a major impact for trains customers throughout Saturday.
“I thank customers for their patience and I would ask them to not abuse front-line staff when there are incidents on the network outside their control.
“It’s important to respect them for the great work they do.
Tens of thousands of sports spectators relied on public transport for Super Saturday.
Sydney Trains acting chief executive Tony Eid apologised for the delays and assured passengers the train network would be ready to run “fresh” from tomorrow morning.
“The systems were a bit slow coming back on for Sydney Trains, leaving us exposed with no train location, no passenger information, no guard rostering or tracking capability and unfortunately the real-time apps to our customers were shut down,” he said.
Stations greatly affected by the “technical issues” include those on the City Circle, T4 and North Shore lines and Western Sydney.
Buses were deployed to stations including Campbelltown, Glenfield, Penrith, Olympic Park and Richmond.
Commuters took to social media to vent their fury with some claiming to be stuck on trains for hours.
Passengers at Parramatta posted images of the indicator boards not working while others a Lidcombe reported trains were stranded because the driver “didn’t arrive”.
The dramas were compounded on Super Saturday as Sydney hosted big sporting events including Winx racing and winning at Royal Randwick and the Bledisloe Cup at ANZ Stadium tonight.
Sydney Swans fans were also left stranded at Strathfield Station this afternoon, missing the start of the match against the Greater Western Sydney Giants at Spotless Stadium.
Commuters expressed their frustration over the train delays and lack of communication.
WE DID IT GUYS, WE HIT AN HOUR. THIS IS SNOWPIERCER TERRITORY NOW #sydneytrains pic.twitter.com/CUSd8HA2MT
— Elfy Scott (@elfy_scott) August 18, 2018
Listening for announcements but there’s nothing playing thanks #sydneytrains this is pathetic pic.twitter.com/83PfikfYpp
— Ben Vance (@klomin10) August 18, 2018
Ben Watts, 35, told The Sunday Telegraph he experienced huge delays as he headed in from Mascot to Sydney Olympic Park to go to the Bledisloe Cup.
“Communication has not been good. My friend has also been given the run around, going to and fro between stations and buses to get to the game,” he said.
Cynthia Tanujaya, 24, said at one stage her train had not moved for at least 30 minutes.
“There has been minimal to no communication, nobody has any idea what is going on,” she said.
Today’s disruptions followed another problem on Friday night when passengers evacuated trains at Wynyard, forcing them to walk along the tracks in the City Circle tunnel.
Sydney Trains said an overhead power supply fault between Central and Town Hall was to blame.