Sydney Light Rail disaster: Contractor tells workers to slow down

THE consortium bungling Sydney’s $2.1 billion light rail project has said it will not have trams on tracks until 2020 - a year after promised - and workers are contacting government officials to dob in the Spanish contractor for telling them to “slow down works”.

SYDNEY’S light rail will be a full year late.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the consortium delivering the bungled project has ­advised the government trams will not be operational until March 2020 — a full year after the intended delivery date and a year after the state election.

It comes as workers from the project are contacting government officials to dob in Spanish contractor Acciona for its “go-slow” on the light rail holding Sydney hostage.

A light rail worker checks her phone in Surry Hills. The Daily Telegraph does not suggest the woman was dodging work. Workers are contacting government officials to dob in constractor Acciona for “go slow” orders.

“We were constantly asked to slow down our works,” one has told the government, and there was a claim of “constant delays on mat­erial and equipment deliberately done by our supervisors”.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance is continuing to ­insist the private sector consortium delivers the light rail project in 2019, as per its contract.

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The Daily Telegraph has obtained a sensitive NSW government briefing note which informs Mr Constance that the consortium ALTRAC had pushed the light rail’s operation date to 2020. The briefing note reveals Transport for NSW initially pushed back, telling the consortium it needed to do more to shorten the delay.

It’s been a good while since this stretch of George St saw any traffic hustle and bustle. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Light rail staff and their activities have become a long-entrenched feature of city life for many. Picture: Dominic O’Brien

However Transport for NSW eventually conceded to the timeline and passed the news on to the ­furious minister.

One proposal to shorten the delay is to begin testing the new trams as construction continues, rather than after.

Sydney light rail map. Source: http://sydneylightrail.transport.nsw.gov.au/map

Currently there are two brand-new shiny trams sitting in a stabling yard at Randwick. They were always intended to arrive early for testing.

It is understood French company Alstom has built most of the 60 trams, and will ship them to Sydney by September.

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“ALTRAC and Acciona need to meet the requirements of the contract, and the NSW government will not be held to ransom,” Mr Constance said.

Acciona is locked in a legal battle with the state government, claiming it engaged in “misleading and deceptive conduct” by withholding information about underground electricity infrastructure.