Cracked rail chokes Monday rush hour city commute

A CRACK in a railway line near Town Hall has been repaired and train services are slowly starting to return to normal after the network was plunged into chaos this morning.

Derrick Krusche

3 min read

August 27, 2018 - 9:42AM

NSW

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A CRACK in a railway line near Town Hall has been repaired and train services are slowly starting to return to normal after the network was plunged into chaos this morning.

Trains were seen reversing from museum back to Central just before 9am, with hundreds of angry commuters left stranded on platforms as railway staff told them services had been cancelled.

Multiple passengers reported delays of up to 30 minutes, with many missing out on trips due to overcrowding on trains.

Engineering crews repairing the cracked rail this morning. Picture: Twitter / @TrainsInfo

Commuters at Central csught up in this morning’s chaos.

City Circle trains were operating in one direction only this morning.

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“No apologies from train personnel just (an) ‘as expected – delays’,” commuter Suzi Dougherty tweeted.

Sydney Trains was also forced to advise some commuters to “seek alternative transport” as commuters tried to get into the CBD for work.

The authority said the crack near Town Hall had been repaired by about 9am.

Last time there was a cracked rail on the #sydneytrains network was back in January and the entire system came crashing down.

One relieving factor then was that it was school holidays. No such luck today.

Brace yourselves ... pic.twitter.com/tG0k6cYPhb
â€” Thomasee (@thomasee) August 26, 2018

Waiting for the day that Sydney trains can get it right... @T8SydneyTrains pic.twitter.com/8mFj5Jt39X
â€” Jeffrey Chan (@tweetswithjeff) August 26, 2018

“Services have resumed in both directions on the City Circle after a crack in the rail was detected earlier this morning between Town Hall and Wynyard stations,” it said.

“Sydney Trains maintenance crews worked hard to make repairs to enable services to resume normal operation.

“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience to their travel this morning. Customers are advised to continue checking mobile apps and transportnsw.info for the latest service updates.”

Some passengers took sympathy with authorities, however. “Good job detecting the problem before it killed anyone,” one man said.

“Can’t believe people are moaning about this.”

Morning misery... Commuters at Central Station today.

Earlier this month, a day of chaos on the rail network due to IT and other “technical issues” left Sydneysiders fuming and transport managers rushing to apologise and give assurances all was being fixed.

Delayed train arrivals and cancelled services led to packed trains and extended travel times for travellers, including those trying to get to major sports fixtures on Saturday evening.

The problem spilt over onto the roads with traffic congestion around many train stations causing even further delays for people trying to get places, including on buses put on by Sydney Trains.

Sydneysiders experience similar chaos in December and January when a new timetable was partly blamed for widespread delays and cancellations on the rail network.

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