Sydney train services cancelled or delayed after union action

Travel chaos has erupted once again in one state after nearly 40 trains were left sitting idle, leaving commuters furious.

Sydney’s rail service has again been plunged into chaos as part of continued industrial action from the union against the state government.

To the displeasure of hundreds of commuters in the city’s west and southwest on Monday morning, their regular services were cancelled, heavily delayed or elongated.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland revealed 37 trains did not operate because they were not accepted into service by train crew.

Thirty-seven trains were not accepted into service by train crew. Picture: 7 News

“We've had 37 trains today that train crew haven’t accepted into service, so that is creating gaps,” he told 2GB on Monday.

“It’ll continue to create gaps across the day, mainly in the west and the southwest so the T2 to the T8 and parts of the T1 line.”

Sydney Trains advised that services may be operating less frequently and trips may take longer throughout Monday due to the industrial action.

Commuters have been asked to avoid non-essential travel or plan ahead and allow for extra time if they must travel.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland Sydney Trains said issues would continue throughout Monday. Picture: John Grainger

The delayed or cancelled trains on Monday morning throughout Sydney. Picture: Twitter / @trvllngjwllr

Frustrated Sydneysiders expressed their anger on Monday as they dealt with another day of disrupted train services.

“Another bull**it day of train drama courtesy of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), Sydney Trains and NSW state government. Commuters are done with the squabbling. Get it sorted. This is beyond ridiculous,” one person tweeted.

“Thanks Sydney trains didn’t wanna be on time for work today anyway,” another said.

thanks sydney trains didn’t wanna be on time for work today anyways

— tyrone (@cruspii) August 21, 2022

The issues were caused by a strike action that was introduced by the RTBU last Wednesday in which train crew will only operate on trains that “meet maintenance centre minimum standards”.

The union has rolled out multiple actions as part of a three-week wave throughout August, with two more strikes planned for this week.

RTBU NSW secretary Alex Claassens admitted he did not think their maintenance centre industrial action would cause so many problems.

“The one that’s now causing this difficulty is this one where we’re saying train crew will only operate trains that meet the minimum maintenance centre standards, which are all related to a range of issues from safety all the way through to cleanliness,” he told 2GB on Monday

“When this action was first proposed, we didn’t think it was going to be such a big issue because most of these are brand new trains.

“I was quite shocked actually to hear that there were so many of these trains that don’t meet the maintenance centre standards.”

RTBU NSW secretary Alex Claassens said he didn’t anticipate this must disruption from this particular industrial action. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

But Mr Claassens said he would meet with Mr Longland to see what they could to do to fix this particular issue.

“We're going to have a conversation with Matt and his team this morning to see what we can do to try and alleviate this, see if we can expedite some of these trains getting to the maintenance centre,” he said.

The dispute between the RTBU and state government is centred on the union’s safety concerns with a $2.8bn intercity train fleet and a new pay deal.

The fleet has been left to collect dust in storage, with the union refusing to operate it until safety issues are fixed.

The government had offered to spend $264m to fix these problems, but the RTBU wanted it to commit to that funding and address concerns with their enterprise agreement in a written deed.

The RTBU was presented with a written deed by government ministers last Thursday that was different from the version the union originally tabled.

Mr Claassens said the government’s altered deed was “not satisfactory”.

Union industrial action could continue until a written deed is agreed to. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

He has previously expressed confidence that a written deed could end the dispute and stop any of their planned industrial action.

But Mr Claassens also made it clear the industrial action would continue into September if the parties couldn’t reach a resolution.

The union will strike twice this week from 10am to 4pm.

The action will affect the T1 Blue Mountains and Newcastle lines on Tuesday, and Sydney inner city services on Thursday.

Transport NSW has advised Sydney Trains and NSW Intercity services will be cancelled during those strike periods and affected train lines will run under a reduced service timetable.