Sydney train delays as it happened: Commuters face chaos as power outage at Strathfield halts services; Transport for NSW defends maintenance of live wires

It was another day of chaos on Sydney trains, the latest chapter in what feels like a never-ending saga of disruption and delay for the rail network.

With the original power issue still not resolved, it’s possible delays could continue tomorrow morning. Check back in with us first thing tomorrow to find out if your morning commute will be impacted.

But for now, here’s where we’ll leave our live coverage. To finish, let’s take a look back at what happened today:

• Shortly after 2.30pm, a train became entangled in a live wire suspended above train tracks near Strathfield station at Homebush, triggering a power outage.
• Around 300 passengers on that train, as well as commuters on three other trains on tracks nearby, were trapped on board for several hours.
• Transport for NSW isolated the live wire and safely evacuated the passengers by about 6pm.
• On platforms around Sydney, chaos quickly ensued, with the timing of the disruption falling just before the evening commute.
• The power outage is still impacting all services, with only shuttle services running on all lines except the T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line, which was never impacted.
• Transport for NSW Coordinator-General Howard Collins apologised for the issue at a press conference. Collins dismissed criticisms of the maintenance of the network’s live wires.
• Bus replacement services were rolled out, and many commuters turned to the Metro to make their way home.
• The state government initiated its agreement with Uber against unreasonable surge pricing during the disruption but some commuters still reported being charged more than usual.

In the fallout of yet another disastrous commute on the Sydney rail network, investigations have already begun into what went wrong.

But as state political editor Alexandra Smith writes, the technicalities of who’s to blame won’t mean much to commuters who are fed up with the cycle of delays.

Commuters outside Central train station waiting for buses following a power failure at Strathfield. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Smith writes:

Transport for NSW Coordinator-General Howard Collins was quick to insist on Tuesday night that the live wire problem had nothing to do with the ongoing dispute with rail unions, or maintenance standards. This may well be true but his explanations will matter little.

The state government is responsible for public transport and will have to bear the brunt of commuter anger.”

Read Smith’s full analysis here.

Trains on most impacted lines are running on shuttle services, but what does that mean, and should you get on the train that just pulled up?

A shuttle service doesn’t run on a timetable and simply travels back and forth while stopping at all stations.

The T1, T2, T3 and T9 services are currently running shuttle services as follows:

• T1 Western: Between Penrith & Olympic Park.
• T1 Northern: Between Hornsby & Central.
• T2: Between Leppington & Lidcombe and Ashfield & Central.
• T3: Between Liverpool & Lidcombe.
• T9: Between Hornsby and Central.

Sydney Trains is advising commuters that these services may not show up in trip planner or other apps.

The T4 and Metro services have not been impacted.

Photographer Wolter Peeters is on the scene at Strathfield, where workers have begun what could be a long night on the tracks, as they de-entangle the train that sparked this evening’s chaos.

Workers on the tracks.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The locomotive that will remove the train arrives at Strathfield.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Workers gather to look at plans for the night ahead.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Uber has an agreement with the NSW government to limit surge pricing when disruption occurs on Sydney’s public transport system.

Despite this agreement being initiated by Transport for NSW today, we’ve been receiving plenty of tips from readers about the high cost of Uber rides amid all the chaos.

Emma said her fare was around double what it would normally be:

An Uber trip that usually costs me around 110-150 dollars was going to cost me 250, despite the non surge measure apparently being in place.”

Girish said he was being quoted $40 for a short trip:

Uber is hiding the surcharge under increased demands cover. Under what circumstances is this distance justifiable for such price. It is roughly 6.2km and maybe 11 mins right now in traffic.”

Hugo wrote that he thought the surge price was unreasonable:

Well this is a lie: ‘Transport for NSW has initiated its agreement with Uber against unreasonable surge pricing during the disruption’. $60 to get from Darlinghurst to Stanmore.”

Caz said she noticed a significant increase in the cost of her trip home from the station:

It cost me $78 to get Uber from Tallawong to my station when I chose to take the metro out of Central station. That was $25 more than 4 months ago.”

Finally, Alyssa said she was struggling to make it home because of the unaffordable Uber prices:

I can’t get home today. I live at Lidcombe, all the buses are full and the Uber price is just ridiculous, I’d have to pay more than a $100. I just finished school and was about to go home but then chaos greeted me as I entered Town Hall station. I rode the lightrail to Central hoping it would be better but it’s just worst.”

Here’s one graph that shows exactly how bad Sydney’s rail network got this afternoon.

This is the on-time running rates of Sydney Trains this afternoon, in live transport data on the NextThere app.

How the Sydney Train chaos unfolded.Credit: NextThere

Before the wiring incident occurred just after 2.30pm today, the vast majority of trains were running on time (represented in green).

But you can see the quick flow-on effects: by about 4.30pm, a good three-quarters of services were either cancelled, running late (shades of red) or missing entirely (grey).

And despite the peak hour crowd crush weakening, at 7.30pm, the situation on the network is still tough. Less than 10 per cent of services are on time. It’s still a long way home for millions of Sydneysiders this evening.

Transport Minister John Graham has advised commuters to check the latest train updates in the morning, noting that there could be “knock-on effects” from today’s delays.

“We’re advising, in the morning to make sure that you check the latest information,” he told ABC News.

Graham also answered questions about the specific incident, noting that the live wire entanglement was not a unique issue, but the location of the tangle, just near Strathfield station, is what caused the extent of the disruption.

A train was stopped near Homebush after becoming entangled in a live wire, triggering a power outage and trapping commuters inside.Credit: Anthony Segaert

“We have had these incidents before, as recently as last year, but it’s the location of this incident that’s really magnified its impact on the network,” he said.

“So this sort of incident with some problem with the pantograph on top of the train and the overhead wiring has occurred before, but it’s a very sensitive part of the network, as passengers understand if they travel through this area, so many lines in the one Strathfield-Central hallway.”

While limited trains are continuing to run on a shuttle service, Transport Minister John Graham says the power outage at Strathfield station has caused a “very serious disruption to the retail network”.

Transport Minister John Graham.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Graham said the weather had made the operation to move the trains and untangle the wires more complex.

“The crew’s there, and I’ve spoken to the crews directly tonight, working now in the dark, in the wet weather, that is making that more difficult,” he told ABC News.

“It will take them quite a number of hours now to do that. We’re expecting they’ll be working into the early hours of the morning.”

Now that all the passengers have been evacuated, a locomotive is on its way to move the train out and clear the tracks.

“It’ll be moved to the maintenance yard, where work will begin [on] any repairs required, but also to investigate exactly what’s gone on here,” Graham said.

A Sydney Metro spokeswoman said there were no plans to increase the frequency of services on the network at this stage. The service runs every four minutes during peak hour, but later switches to every 10 minutes.

Passengers queue outside the Gadigal Metro Station.Credit: AAPIMAGE

Looking at the Martin Place station schedule the interval stretches out to 10 minutes after the 7.33pm northbound train and the 7.29pm southbound train, respectively.

If the crowds haven’t cleared by then, the long queues of commuters waiting to board Metro services are about to get a lot worse.

If the NSW Labor government hopes that commuters’ memories are short, they are deluded.

Tuesday’s peak hour chaos, which started as students were trying to get home from school and extended into the commuter hour, will be testing the patience of heavy rail users. Commuters are tired of delays, regardless of who is to blame.

Only as recently as February, commuters were collateral damage in the bitter ongoing wages dispute between the state government and Sydney Trains.

Few will forget Valentine’s Day this year, when Sydney experienced massive train delays and cancellations. The city was thrown into chaos as a significant number of train drivers and guards called in sick, according to Transport for NSW. The unions, however, maintained that the absences were no more unusual than other Fridays. No one disputes that commuters took the pain.

Responsibility matters little to disgruntled commuters. Anyone trying to get home from school or work on the rail network has been caught up in Sydney’s train meltdown today. The state government is responsible for public transport and will have to bear the brunt of commuter anger.