Back-to-school deadline looms in rail union dispute with 18,000 schoolkids to join commuter crush

Wednesday’s train chaos has already sparked fears schoolchildren could soon be caught in the crossfire in the war between the rail union and state government, as a new deadline looms to resolve the dispute.

Wednesday’s train chaos has already sparked fears schoolchildren could soon be caught in the crossfire in the war between the rail union and state government.

A new deadline for both parties to make a deal is approaching at the end of the month, when tens of thousands of kids will join the commuter crush.

School students tapping on and off with free travel Opal cards made more than a million trips on the Sydney and intercity train network in February last year, travelling by train 37,460 times per day on average according to Transport for NSW data.

Public school students will return to the classroom on Thursday February 6, while some independent and Catholic schools start as early as Wednesday January 29.

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou warned if the dispute isn’t resolved soon, the public transport system is in for further “chaos”.

A school student is seen at Strathfield Train Station in Sydney. An estimated 18,000 children will join commuters from February 6. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

“Sydney is on a countdown to even more transport chaos if the rail dispute is still going when schools resume at the end of January,” he said.

“The current industrial warfare must end well before then. This campaign has been going on for months. The public is fed up.

School students took more than 1 million trips on the Sydney rail network using their free travel Opal cards in February last year.

“Schoolchildren … cannot be subjected to the delays and service cancellations that are dogging the system today with no resolution in sight.”

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell said Wednesday’s delays set a “concerning” precedent for the back-to-school period, urging the Department of Education to prepare and communicate with parents.

“We’ve already seen how disruptive the union action has been to trains in Sydney, and I’m very concerned about what may happen when students are back at school in just a few weeks,” she said.

“Thousands of school kids travel by train and now is the time for the Department to be making contingency plans.”

Former education minister Sarah Mitchell said “now is the time” for the Education Department to prepare for kids arriving late to school. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Families “need certainty”, Ms Mitchell said, about how schools will deal with students running late due to industrial action.

“We don’t want a situation where kids aren’t attending school because the trains are late, or never show up,” she said.

“We know that how critical full-time attendance is, especially in those first few weeks of school.

“The government needs to be doing everything they can to make sure children can get to school on time.”

A Department of Education spokesman said the department would “provide support” if necessary.

“Students are back at school on 6 February, and should the industrial dispute affecting trains services continue, we will assess the situation, provide support and plan for alternative transport arrangements,” he said.

“In the meantime, we will continue to liaise with TfNSW and provide further information on this matter to our school communities as it comes to hand.”

Originally published as Back-to-school deadline looms in rail union dispute with 18,000 schoolkids to join commuter crush