Fears train chaos could continue unless critical maintenance is completed as hundreds of trains were cancelled in NSW rail dispute

Sydney’s train chaos could continue if a key issue isn’t addressed overnight after hundreds of services were cancelled amid a bitter pay dispute.

Commuters can expect the rest of the week to be even worse across the Sydney Trains network after more than 80 per cent of trains were delayed or cancelled on Wednesday morning.

The delays have stemmed from work bans enacted by the Electrical Trades Union. But the issues have been exacerbated by Rail, Tram and Bus Union action, which is literally slowing trains down, in response to what the RTBU deems an inadequate pay rise and conditions improvement offer from the state government.

Speaking to media on Wednesday, Transport Minister Jo Haylen described the offer on the table for the unions as “fair and reasonable” about a dozen times.

She said the offer had addressed 100 of the more than 300 demands the unions initially made. The deal has been mediated by the Fair Work Commission.

“This is the boa constrictor strangling our network, the same boa constrictor that the union boasts about. In fact, they wear it on their stickers, they wear it on their T-shirts,” Ms Haylen said.

“Now, this is the cumulative impact of hundreds of industrial bans in force across the network.

“I want to apologise to passengers because they are being impacted by this industrial action when they just need to get to work or need to get home and look after their kids.”

On Wednesday morning, more than 400 trains were cancelled. Trains have sat idle at stations for up to 30 minutes because of crew shortages.

It takes about 20 buses to move the same number of people as a fully loaded train.

Transport for NSW put on 50 extra buses across the city on Wednesday morning.

Services across the greater Sydney train system were affected by the return of industrial action on Wednesday. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Bondi Junction and Homebush were particularly congested. The government says if the industrial actions continue, the situation will get worse at rush hour on Wednesday afternoon and continue to “degrade” further on Thursday and Friday.

Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray said delays were only going to get worse.

“As we look towards the afternoon and evening, the scenario is going to get worse in terms of train and crew availability and we also see some inclement weather on the horizon which may make afternoon travel even more difficult,” he said.

“We are saying to vulnerable travellers, we are saying to emergency workers, for those that have critical travel this afternoon – to leave now to make those arrangements and not rely on afternoon peak services.”

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said T1, T4 and T8 lines were particularly delayed on Wednesday. Overall, more than 80 per cent of trains were delayed or cancelled.

Mr Longland said ETU workers not doing “critical work” overnight was the root cause of the delays.

The T1-9, Blue Mountains Line, Central Coast and Newcastle Line, South Coast Line, Southern Highlands Line and Hunter Line were all affected by rail strikes on Wednesday morning, with services hit by cancellations and major delays.

Video footage has captured a massive queue of people waiting for a bus at Bondi Junction station on Wednesday, with the line appearing to span hundreds of metres.

Commuters returning home are expected to be hit with more delays as the chaos continues well into the evening.

Mr Longland advised Sydneysiders to avoid travel and work from home if possible.

“If you’re able to work from home, or if you’re able to travel on another mode, that would be what I’d be doing today,” he said.

He said there were more than 50 replacement buses in service as of Wednesday morning to help support travel.

More than 50 trains have been cancelled. Picture: TripViewLite.

Commuters have faced crowded trains, long delays and constant stoppages during Wednesday. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Crews vowed to slow trains by 23km/h less in areas of track that were 80km/h or higher from Wednesday as the RBTU demanded a 32 per cent pay rise across four years for its members.

However, Mr Longland said the delays were a result of critical maintenance work not carried out by the ETU overnight and not the go-slow enforced by RTBU members.

It’s understood critical safety maintenance between Bondi Junction and Homebush was not completed overnight, with ETU members believed to have abided by a ban on the maintenance of the signal system.

This has forced lights for trains to be turned red, leaving signallers to manually navigate trains through the affected areas.

It’s understood if the critical maintenance is not completed on Wednesday night, commuters could be in for similar cancellations and delays on Thursday.

In a statement, the ETU NSW secretary Allen Hicks said the pay offer would continue to take workers’ standard of living backwards in this cost-of-living crisis.

Mr Hicks said details in the offer would compromise the safety of workers and the rail network.

“The latest offer also aims to silence workers’ voices by removing consultation rights in regard to new technologies. These changes will bring danger to workers and commuters alike,” he said.

“Sydney Trains has not engaged in genuine and meaningful bargaining since 3 December 2024, so workers are left with no choice but to continue taking protected industrial action in the hopes of bringing the company and the state government back to the bargaining table to work towards a real outcome that workers can accept.

“Workers at Sydney Trains take us where we need to go, they shouldn’t be left behind.”

‘Strangling our train network’

Ms Haylen said the network was being hit with widespread disruptions.

“Despite the union saying that they had minimal action or that there would be minimal disruption today we are instead seeing major service reductions and cancellations across the network but particularly on the T4, T1 and the T8,” Ms Haylen told 2GB.

“This is the boa constrictor the union boasts about, that they’ve actually put on their stickers, it’s strangling our train network, and unfortunately it’s what we’ve always warned would happen if you try to run a train network with more than 350 industrial bans in place.”

NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen has apologised to commuters for the disruption to train services on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Transport for NSW earlier confirmed there would be “increasing service reductions and cancellations on the rail network” from Wednesday due to the impact of the more than 350 ongoing and new industrial bans, with 10 fresh bans coming into effect on Wednesday.

Commuters were warned information regarding services “may be incorrect on Transport apps, information screens and automated announcements” due to the industrial action, and were urged to allow extra travel time.

Transport NSW also said people may need to change services and warned of the potential for “increased crowding”.

“Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink apologise for the disruption, and thank commuters for their understanding as staff work to minimise the impacts of this industrial action,” an alert stated.

Frustrated commuters have taken to social media to slam the delays.

“Sydney trains ready to f*** over everyone’s day yet again,” one wrote in a post to X.

“These Sydney Trains strikes are making it REALLY hard for me to be pro union right now,” another commented.

More people aired their grievances over Facebook.

“This needs sorting ASAP,” one wrote.

Ms Haylen apologised to commuters for the delays.

‘Taking the piss’

2GB’s James Willis slammed the industrial action while speaking with RTBU president Craig Turner on Wednesday morning.

“I’m sorry to say this, you’re taking the piss,” Willis said.

Mr Turner told Willis he agreed that workers shouldn’t be paid while engaging in strike action; however, he claimed members hadn’t taken action yet.

“We haven’t taken any strike action yet, we’ve done part-time stuff,” Mr Turner said.

“If it looks like a duck, Craig … that’s what’s happened this morning, mate, you stuffed people around,” Willis replied.

Mr Turner claimed there were 18 trains cancelled out of Campbelltown and Leppington yards on Wednesday morning before crews had arrived.

“They were cancelled by management for no reason, and now I’m getting lots more text messages to say that,” he said.

“We can’t understand what’s happening.”

When asked why workers deserved a 32 per cent pay rise, Mr Turner said rail workers “do everything pretty well”.

He said there were a combination of problems on the rail network, including maintenance and old trains, and members deserved a good raise.

“There’s a cost-of-living crisis, we believe our members deserve it, it’s an opportunity to get a good pay rise, whether it’s 8 per cent per year, that’s where negotiations come in,” he said.

“The government have just stonewalled everything, they don’t meet with us.”

Mr Turner added the union didn’t force members to do anything when urged by Willis to take the government’s latest 15 per cent offer.

Commuters have been advised to allow extra time for travel on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

RTBU secretary Toby Warnes said there appeared to be a “long way to go” with negotiations despite the government’s recent offer.

Mr Warnes said the union wanted to discuss a three or four year enterprise agreement, but claimed it had been 42 days since the last bargaining meeting with the government.

“In order to get to a position where we can confidently go to our members and the government can go to its employees and say ‘Here is a deal we think you can accept, here’s a deal to get things back on track’, we need to sit around the table and actually brush up the issues rather than outsourcing negotiations and operations to private law forms to run industrial strategies,” Mr Warnes said.

“Come back to the table and talk through the issues, and let’s get to a deal.”

Many services were affected by the industrial action. Picture: Transport NSW.

The chaos comes after Ms Haylen on Tuesday revealed the state government was offering a 15 per cent pay rise – including a 1 per cent increase in super – over four years in the latest offer to the union.

Ms Haylen said the pay offer, which also includes an additional one per cent pay rise from mutual gains bargaining, was made possible due to an agreement to merge Sydney and NSW Trains over the next four years.

⚠️ Some information regarding your train trip may be incorrect on Transport Apps, Information Screens and Automated Announcements due to protected industrial action.

Allow extra travel time and consider using all your transport options. pic.twitter.com/bJmzvLrA0g

— Sydney Trains & NSW TrainLink Info (@TrainsInfo) January 14, 2025

Workers have had their pay docked as a result of the industrial action, with Ms Haylen and Mr Longland earlier defending the decision.

“What we’re talking about here are partial work bans, so staff that do part of their job, but not the other part … Our approach is that we will no longer accept partial work from our staff,” Mr Longland said.

“For staff that are coming to work, we expect them to undertake their normal duties, or they won’t be coming to work and they won’t be paid.”

Data released by Transport for NSW revealed an average of 77 per cent of trains arrived on time while punctuality hadn’t tipped past the target of 92 per cent since January 2024, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Originally published as Fears train chaos could continue unless critical maintenance is completed as hundreds of trains were cancelled in NSW rail dispute