Minns warns of afternoon rail chaos

Chris Minns has warned Sydney trains will be plagued with delays and disruptions again on Wednesday afternoon and evening

More than 300 people have been evacuated after being trapped on a Sydney train near Strathfield station when high voltagewires collapsed on top. Picture: Nine News

Premier Chris Minns has warned delays and disruptions on Sydney’s rail network will continue into the evening, after a live wire fell onto a train at near Strathfield station on Tuesday afternoon, sending the network into chaos.

The Premier said while the impacted train lines were up and running many trains would still be replaced by shuttle services for the rest of the day.

“There will still be disruptions into the afternoon. We will not be returning to a normal timetable in trains in NSW in the afternoon peak,” he said.

The Premier said it was expected the timetable would return to normal by Thursday morning.

“There’s crews and trains in different parts of the system and it’s not possible to promise to return to timetable,” he said.

“We expect it to be in place as of tomorrow’s morning’s peak but this afternoon will still be disruptive.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns, with Transport Minister John Graham and CEO of Sydney Trains, Matt Longland during a press conference to provide an update on the disruption to the rail network. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Mr Minns said he encouraged businesses in the city to allow workers to leave work earlier to avoid the afternoon peak.

“I recognise that is hugely disruptive.

It’s the last message that I want to give the community public but I also don’t want to see scenes of hundreds of thousands of people waiting to get access to a train this afternoon, when the heavens have opened up and it’s incredibly difficult and potentially dangerous to get on public transport,” he said.

Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said investigators suspected the high voltage wire was brought down due to an overhead wiring fault.

He said the wire had last been inspected by maintenance crews on April 9 and they had not picked up any issues.

“A full investigation is underway as to the root cause. We don’t believe it was weather related, so not wind and storm related,” Mr Longland said.

“That section of wiring is on a three-monthly cycle of inspection. It was last inspected on April 9 so it was within its inspection window.

“That inspection…did not identify any faults or any issues that might lead us to believe that there would have been a failure in this part of the network.”

Transport Minister John Graham said while long periods of industrial action earlier this year had delayed routine maintenance of the rail system, that had not played a role in Wednesday’s network failure.

Commuters were left confused on Wednesday morning as the rail chaos continued.

The Premier said the government was not “blaming” to unions for yesterday’s disruption.

“This isn’t related to the industrial dispute and we’re not blaming the unions in relation to this,” he said.

“This mechanical fault was not part of the Union action. It had been already part of the maintenance schedule, it hadn’t been disrupted.”

Commuters will be given a fare free day on the rail network on Monday in recompense for the disruption.

Monday is one of the quietest days on the network with many people working from home.

When asked why he wouldn’t hold a fare free day on a busier day so more people could benefit, Mr Minns said he wanted to hold it “on the earliest day we could”.

“I still believe having a fare free day as close as technically possible to the events of yesterday was the right decision,” he said.

“It’s not going to be convenient for everyone but that’s the decision we’ve made.”

Originally published as Minns warns of afternoon rail chaos