Forget the metro delay, why is my mother of a train trip not getting faster?

Sydney has become accustomed to the eternal wait for trains. Whether it’s the go-slow network every time heavy rain hits the city or missed punctuality targets even when the definition of an on-time train is granted a generous five-minute grace period. Yep, Sydney sure knows how to wait.

And sometimes that wait is on a grand scale. The opening of the $21.6 billion driverless metro rail line, which will finally transform Sydney into a grown-up city, is imminent, possibly just days away. However, the wait for the metro has been long and, at times, agonising. No sooner had NSW Premier Chris Minns revealed the highly anticipated start date, the government was forced to backtrack and concede it had fired the starter’s gun too early.

The word “intercity” conjures an image of speed. Then you see the train. Credit: BeyondImages

Further testing was needed after a firefighter suffered a minor electric shock during an evacuation drill. Even though the government is now confident the metro is ready to go, it is still awaiting final tick off from the national rail safety regulator. Minns hinted strongly this week that the metro would be running “within days”, which will be welcome news for the commuters counting down to its arrival. Less so for the eager trainspotters who travelled to Sydney, some from interstate, for the aborted start date of August 4.

But the metro delay is nothing compared with the stunning failure to have the new intercity fleet up and running. One of the most perplexing questions is why we still don’t have anything resembling a good train service linking our state’s two biggest cities. The service between Sydney and Newcastle is nothing short of embarrassing.

I know this all too well, catching the intercity service regularly to Newcastle to visit my mum. I visit so often that I choose to catch the train rather than drive in the vain hope I can make the best use of my time and work while I travel. But I don’t know why I bother – internet coverage is patchy as you snake around the Hawkesbury River and there is no onboard Wi-Fi. Why would there be? It’s only 2024, after all.

Forget charging points for devices or storage for the luggage of passengers travelling to the airport. The doors on most carriages are old-school manual handles, a disaster for anyone juggling a pram or a walking stick. And I would not even consider braving the toilets. If not for some beautiful scenery along the way, it would be one of the most shameful train trips in Australia.

The train used to be called the “Newcastle flyer” because it could, at its fastest, make the journey to Sydney in two hours. The flyer was eventually phased out and now the journey takes, on average, two hours and 44 minutes. So my trip to visit my mother is usually 3.5 hours door to door. I can shave a good hour off that if I go by car.

Yet we have brand-new trains sitting idle in a yard literally gathering dust. They are now about four years late. The fleet of Korean-built trains was bought to replace the V-set and Oscar trains on intercity lines between Sydney and Newcastle, the South Coast and the Blue Mountains. But in intervening years, the rollout of the $2.8 billion Mariyung new intercity fleet (known as the NIF) has been delayed, delayed and further delayed. The fleet began arriving in Sydney more than four years ago but has been mothballed on the Central Coast at a cost of $30 million a month, according to estimates by the former government.

One major hold-up was an almighty stoush between the former Coalition government and the rail union over the safety of the trains. The union demanded modifications to the trains to allow guards to monitor passengers getting on and off at stations. Some equipment such as CCTV screens and the installation of door controls also had to be relocated. Eventually, a deal was struck (not before the Coalition took some blows), modifications made and testing has begun.

The NSW Labor government inherited the mess but says the trains will finally be operating later this year. It won’t commit to a date after its experience with the metro, but it won’t be able to afford any further delays. Taxpayers’ money is being wasted while brand-new transport sits idle.

Meanwhile, after decades of election promises and countless feasibility studies, fast rail between Sydney and Newcastle remains on the table. At least in theory. The federal government this year promised $78.8 million for an initial business case for a train link to slash travel time between the two cities to just 45 minutes. How one does not yet exist is extraordinary, when you look at what other global cities can achieve. But exorbitant costs, not to mention the political realities of Newcastle being Labor heartland, means we’ve been left waiting.

Lucky we are used to that when it comes to trains.

Alexandra Smith is state political editor.