NSW bureaucrats rushed to Spain to resolve trains dispute

Senior NSW transport bureaucrats have flown to Spain twice in the last six months in a bid to limit the fallout from a dispute that has led to project delays for a multibillion-dollar fleet of passenger trains.

The government is at loggerheads with a consortium led by Spanish manufacturer CAF over design changes to trains purchased for key rail lines from Sydney to Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, and across NSW.

Internal documents – marked “sensitive” – show Transport for NSW gained ministerial approval to rush senior officials to Spain to try to resolve the stand-off with CAF, as the public-private partnership faced “large time-based financial penalties for delay”.

An artist’s impression of the new Spanish-built regional trains.Credit: NSW government

The documents reveal “significant scope changes” to the design of the new regional trains sought by the transport agency have resulted in “potentially long delays at high cost”.

In a bid to limit those “delays and associated costs”, two senior Transport for NSW officials flew to CAF’s main production plant in the northern Spanish town of Beasain for a two-week visit in late May. It was followed by another two-week trip by three others in September.

Senior Transport officials believed the May visit would allow them to “hold intense without prejudice discussions on the current project delays” with CAF, according to the documents obtained by the Herald using freedom of information laws.

However, they became concerned when they learned that CAF kept “extensive record-keeping” of conversations, actions and decisions throughout the visit.

The new regional trains are being built at CAF’s factory at Beasain in northern Spain.Credit: Bloomberg

“These records were then forwarded to [Transport for NSW] and appeared to have been authored to modify the program timetables,” the documents state.

They show technical issues had to be agreed with CAF in order to “finalise the design and allow procurement of long lead-time components and the development of train software”.

The main areas of dispute between the two sides have been over the pitch of passenger seats, toilets, rubbish bins, crew seats, the audio entertainment system and the location of bicycle racks.

Transport for NSW also pushed for the urgent visits to Spain because officials believed that dealing with CAF’s design and production team via teleconferencing from Australia could “only progress so far” and might impede the agency’s ability to rectify problems.

The Herald recently revealed the new train fleet is running more than three years late due to the dispute. A major delay to the $2.8 billion project means NSW passengers will be stuck with travelling on decades-old trains much longer than planned, which also poses risks to the reliability of services and increased maintenance costs for the government.

The new trains have been bought to replace the state’s XPT, Xplorer and Endeavour trains, some of which are almost 40 years old.

Under the original plans, the first of the new trains were due to start entering service in NSW next year. The order comprises 117 new carriages, which will form 29 train sets of various lengths.

The pitch of passenger seats has been a major point of contention between the government and the Spanish train manufacturer.Credit: NSW government

Labor transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said it was clear the government had lost control of the project, and the decision to build the trains overseas had meant passengers would be waiting longer for them because so many modifications needed to be made.

However, Regional Transport Minister Sam Farraway said the state’s transport agency undertook extensive consultation with passengers and key stakeholders including the Rail, Tram and Bus Union. “We took on that feedback to deliver the best possible design,” he said.

Transport for NSW said in a statement that it was working closely with the consortium to finalise the last stages of the detailed design for the fleet while train production continued in parallel.

“A timeline for the delivery of the new trains, and their entry into passenger service, will be known at the completion of this process, noting that production of train units is well underway,” it said.

The dispute over “contentious design issues” comes as a separate fleet of Korean-built intercity trains is at the centre of a prolonged stoush between the government and RTBU, which has led to major disruptions for commuters.

CAF was approached for comment.

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