Cyber attack ruled out as root of train disaster identified as equipment failure
Transport top dogs have washed down concerns Wednesday’s all-encompassing train outage was caused by foreign interference, while Uber have accused the government body for not alerting them of the problem until two hours after it began.
Central Sydney
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Transport top dogs have washed down concerns that Wednesday’s all-encompassing train outage was caused by foreign interference or a cyberattack.
Commuters were delayed by hours after the entire rail network was shut down, with Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland on Thursday morning saying the issue was under control.
Mr Longland said a “piece of computer equipment” – similar to a household router – broke down, meaning messages couldn’t be sent across the train network.
“What we can say is that the root cause of the incident was a component failure. So there is no sense that this is related to any cybersecurity issue. So it was a component failure (and) that component has now been replaced and is being monitored,” he said.
It came after Transport Minister David Elliott suggested shortly after the system breakdown that it was likely a “technical glitch, but we do need to go through the other possible causes whether it be industrial sabotage or foreign interference”.
Mr Longland said although extra buses were put on, the sheer number of passengers queuing for delayed trains close to peak hour meant many commuters faced hours of delays.
Transport for NSW Chief Operations Officer Howard Collins said cyber attacks were always a concern but no evidence had been discovered yet of any external intervention causing yesterday’s massive shutdown.
“There is always a concern with any IT systems or even these…enclosed system (of) any foreign interference or any other issue coming in to the network,” he said.
“But so far this is leading to a component failure, or a failure of overloading the system with software. We will get to the bottom of it. But no indication so far indicates this is something coming into the network like a cyberattack or data which is coming in from outside our system.”
Premier Dominic Perrottet announced a free day of travel while speaking to reporters in Parramatta on Thursday to make up for the debacle.
It comes as tech giant Uber claimed they were delayed in being informed of the major meltdown and has placed the blame on Transport for NSW after hundreds of commuters were left stranded outside closed stations with only exorbitant Ubers to get them home.
The company is now moving to refund customers after many were charged hundreds of dollars for their trips.
They claim that Transport did not inform them of the disruptions until almost 5pm — two hours after the city-wide shutdown.
“In the past we have been alerted by Transport for NSW when there were Sydney-wide transport issues, however in this instance we were not informed of the complete outage on the NSW train network. As soon as our team became aware of the train disruption, we immediately lowered and capped surge to still incentivise driver-partners who were helping Sydneysiders get home, while making rides more affordable for those stranded,” the spokesman said.
“Surge pricing happens in real time when demand for rides exceeds the number of driver-partners online and works to attract more drivers to the area. In this case, we proactively reduced and capped that surge and communicated with driver-partners to let them know about the increased rider demand and encourage them to come online and help provide a ride to those who needed one. This approach was communicated to Transport for NSW and the Minister’s office.”
But Transport for NSW has maintained that they made several public announcements on Wednesday afternoon that should have given enough notice to the company to reign in its eye-watering prices.
“The Transport Management Centre issued multiple alerts informing the media, community, and stakeholders about delays on the Sydney Trains network yesterday,” a spokesman said.
“The first Twitter message was posted by Sydney Trains on all Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink, line specific Twitter handles at 2:50pm, 5 minutes after the incident was declared.
These tweets were updated regularly, with updates continuing until 1am Thursday morning.”
The Telegraph understands email alerts were issued from 3pm to major media outlets and stakeholders including the NSW Taxi Council and multiple taxi companies before the Point to Point Transport Commission issued a direct message to rideshare and taxi operators by 4:45pm.
‘DISGUSTED’: UBER SLAMMED FOR PRICE HIKES AMID TRAIN CHAOS
Commuters were fleeced hundreds of dollars in exorbitant Uber bills as Sydney’s train network collapsed during Wednesday peak hour, with the Transport Minister slamming the rideshare giant for preying on people’s misery.
It comes as officials apologised and vowed to have trains up and running normally on Thursday morning after all services ground to a stop at 3pm due to a system-wide suspension.
Trains later resumed at 4.20pm but massive delays were caused well into the evening.
As frustrated commuters looked for a way home, Uber charged as much as $220 for a trip from Central to Blacktown at 5pm even once the system was back up and running.
Immediately after the gates were shut at the station’s Elizabeth St entrance at about 3pm, a 55km trip from Central Station to Mount Annan cost $499.80, compared to $38.93 half an hour earlier.
Transport Minister David Elliott blasted Uber for its price surge.
“I’m absolutely disgusted that Uber have decided to take advantage of an unfortunate situation in Sydney,” Mr Elliott said.
“I have had consistent reassurances from Uber this wouldn’t occur.”
Tara Goodall was worried about her young children waiting home alone as she could not get the train back in time to meet them.
“I can’t take an Uber because it surged to over $300 for me to get home.”
“I’m stuck.”
Uber said it had put a cap on dynamic pricing to ensure it didn’t increase throughout the night, even though some fares had already gone up more than 1000 per cent.
The spokeswoman said to counter the increase in demand, it sent out “a big push to drivers” to “let them know about the increased rider demand and encourage them to come online and help provide a ride to those who need one”.
She added that if riders believe they were overcharged for a ride beyond the upfront surge price fare, to get in touch with Uber to discuss it further.
Many customers across Sydney were still experiencing inflated prices at 5pm.
A fare to Revesby from Surry Hills was priced at $124, with a warning that prices were “higher due to increased demand”.
By 4pm, prices had somewhat dropped but fares were still high with a trip to Bankstown costing $124.19 and a trip to Parramatta $122.07.
Meanwhile, customers who refused to fork out for a rideshare were kept waiting outside after
many stations, including Central, were closed outright while the problem was fixed.
Nearby light rail services in Sydney’s CBD struggled to continue as crowds spilled over tracks and blocked carriages.
Sydney Trains chief executive Matthew Longland said the shutdown was caused by the failure of the Digital Train Radio System which cut crew members off from the rail operation centre.
When engineers failed to restart it, the system was cut and moved across to the back-up system.
Mr Longland said an update to the system last weekend was unrelated and that a network-wide failure was “extremely rare”.
Mr Elliott said it was a “technical glitch, but we do need to go through the other possible causes whether it be industrial sabotage or foreign interference.”
Labor’s transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said “it was clear the Liberal government had once again lost control of the train network”.
“It’s clear there is no accountability – no one knows who’s in charge and passengers are yet again paying this price,” she said.
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