Sydney Trains meltdown: NSW Transport Minister refuses to refund passengers for tickets
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance is refusing to refund furious passengers affected by Sydney Train’s epic three day fail, arguing “every dollar” needed to be put towards the system.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance has apologised to Sydney’s rail users, admitting the train network is a ‘mess’ after the third successive day of cancellations and delays but is refusing to refund passengers for their tickets.
Fronting the press for the first time since widespread delays and cancellations caused crowds so big police had to be called in, Mr Constance apologised to commuters.
But he said he would not be issuing refunds to passengers affected arguing “every dollar” needed to be put towards the system.
READ MORE: Sydney train commuter nightmare as rail network goes off the rails
Thousands of furious commuters were left stranded at Sydney’s Central Station in sweltering temperatures last night with eight of the network’s 10 train lines no longer running to a timetable and no expected departure times available.
Crowds became so large that passengers were turned away at some platforms, station stairways at Wynyard were at one stage completely locked off and police were called in to supervise increasingly tense travellers.
The train workers’ union labelled the transport crisis a “cover-up” for failures in the new Sydney timetable introduced in November, however Mr Constance blamed the delays on staffing issues and lightning, defending the new timetable he put in place six weeks ago.
He said they were working to fix the solution but “couldn’t pull trains and drivers out of thin air”.
“Today I’ve asked Sydney Trains Chief Executive Howard Collins and Transport Secretary Rodd Staples to report to me within a fortnight on how the network can better recover from major incidents with cumulative impacts like we’ve seen over the last few days,” Mr Constance said.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley demanded the government immediately suspend the new timetable and refund customers who had been impacted by the delays.
He said commuters who had been forced to take Ubers and taxis because of the chaos should also be refunded.
“The Liberals have failed to adequately resource the train system,” he said.
Thousands were left stranded as the rail system was plunged into chaos, with the situation becoming so dire that Sydney Trains ironically started telling commuters to try to avoid travelling with them altogether.
READ MORE: Sydney train delays: Chaos caused by ‘100-year-old train stations’
Transport NSW experienced more problems today with line cancellations and delays this morning due to staff availability issues.
The North Shore Line was the worst affected, with five services cancelled outright by 8:30am as well as extensive delays to other trains.
The Western Line, Airport/South Line and Inner West lines all had one service cancellation while the Leppington line had two as well as other delays while the Cumberland line is experiencing delays only.