Sydney train delays as it happened: Haylen says ‘more than a thousand’ services to be cancelled by end of the day as RTBU action resumes

We’re wrapping up today’s live coverage as a challenging day on Sydney’s rail network gave way to weather chaos as severe thunderstorms hit the metropolitan area. Here’s a summary of what happened today:

• Commuters faced long waits for trains on Wednesday as renewed work bans by the Combined Rail Union led to delays and cancellations.
• More than 1000 services were expected to be cancelled across the network by the end of the day.
• Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said a refusal by the Electrical Trades Union to carry out maintenance overnight was causing the worst of the delays.
• The government has offered the unions a 13 per cent pay rise, plus an extra 1 per cent from cost savings and an extra 1 per cent in super, over four years. The unions were given a Thursday deadline to give their response. Union officials have already indicated that they will formally reject it.
• Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms have caused damage across much of the state. At least one man has died in the Central West and about 120,000 homes were without power across NSW.
• The storms left multiple stations without power and caused flooding in the Town Hall concourse as many commuters were still struggling to get home.

Thank you for joining us today. We’ll keep you posted with updates about the industrial action again tomorrow.

The State Emergency Service says about a third of the incidents it has responded to following today’s storms have been in the Sydney metropolitan area.

State Emergency Service intelligence and warnings officer David Pedersen says of the 1243 requests for assistance it has responded to since midnight on Tuesday, 432 have come from greater Sydney.

Hornsby, where many homes are without power, contributed 66 of those requests, followed by Ku-ring-gai, where there have been 38 requests.

“In an event like this, the vast majority are related to large branches, large trees fallen onto residential properties or roads, including cars,” Pedersen said, adding there had been reports of roof damage caused by strong winds and rainfall in the Hawkesbury and Aberdeen areas.

Although there has been minor flooding in greater Sydney, Pedersen said it had not caused any incidents requiring assistance, although the weather system was still affecting the city.

“We expect conditions to mostly attenuate in the next hour or so,” he said.

Elsewhere in the state, at least one person is confirmed to have been killed in the storms. A man believed to be in his 80s died when a tree fell on his car as he drove along Lachlan Valley Way in Cowra at about 3.50pm.

As city commuters faced a challenging day on rail lines, severe thunderstorms which have caused damage across much of the state have led to chaos on the roads.

In addition to flooding at Town Hall station, flooding has forced road closures at Pyrmont, where two out of three lanes in both directions were closed on the Western Distributor at Bank Street.

The storm front as it approached Sydney on January 15.Credit: Nick Moir

Elsewhere in the CBD, police were responding to a fallen tree which had blocked traffic at the intersection of Wattle Street and Macarthur Street.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest warnings show that the most severe part of the storm front has moved away from the metropolitan area, and as of 9.30pm is affecting Newcastle, but Sydney remains in a “warning” area.

The bureau has advised people to stay indoors, not walk, ride or drive through flood water, secure or put away loose items around their homes, and keep well away from fallen power lines.

Lidcombe, Cabramatta and Flemington train stations are all without power after heavy rain and thunderstorms began to hit Sydney at about 8pm this evening.

There has been flooding of the concourse at Town Hall, although there is no water on the tracks.

Elsewhere, a tree which has fallen on overhead wires at Normanhurst is affecting travel in both directions on the T9 line, with trains not running between Hornsby and Epping.

A tree on overhead wires at Bell means no trains are running from Lithgow to Mount Victoria.

Severe thunderstorms are continuing to affect much of Sydney. According to Ausgrid, almost 69,000 homes across the state are without power as a result of unplanned outages, while more than 53,000 homes on Endeavour Energy’s grid are without power. Winds of up to 100 km/h have been reported at Sydney Airport, while wind speeds reached 117 km/h at Kurnell.

Bureau of Meteorology radar as at 7.50pm shows a severe thunderstorm approaching the NSW metropolitan area. Credit: Bureau of Metereology

As thousands of people still struggle to get home amid delays on Sydney’s rail network, a severe thunderstorm storm has hit the metropolitan area.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the storms began to affect the western suburbs at 8.25 pm, and would hit the CBD at 8.40pm, and the eastern suburbs by 8:55 pm.

“These thunderstorms are moving towards the east to southeast,” the warning said.

As we reported earlier, storms could put even more stress on the rail network. The TripView app is still showing dozens of cancelled and delayed services across heavy rail lines.

Earlier, lightning was sighted at Homebush, where signalling issues which contributed to today’s delays began this morning, following RTBU industrial action.

Lightning at Homebush as a storm approaches Sydney.Credit: Wolter Peeters

To compound commuters’ woes, Herald readers have alerted us to the fact that the light rail has not been running between Town Hall and Circular Quay due to a power outage.

The L2 and L3 lines are not running between Town Hall and Circular Quay because of a power outage, with passengers told to walk – or take the train – instead.

Signs are advising that the L2 and L3 lines are not operational in the CBD, with travellers advised to use trains or walk instead.

Dan Boyd, 47, who works in the CBD, opted to take the light rail after waiting for 30 minutes in vain for a train – he didn’t get far before the service ground to a halt and the driver informed passengers of the outage. Faced with another unknown wait for a train to Circular Quay, he opted to walk.

The light rail, whose workers are represented by a different union, is not affected by today’s RTBU’s industrial action.

The network has experienced recent difficulties with power outages. In December, a network-wide outage knocked all Sydney light rail lines out of service for an hour.

Frances Howe has been chatting to residents of the Blue Mountains all afternoon, with the multi-hour delay on the 5.11pm service to Lithgow giving her ample time to hear from commuters as the train sat stationary on platform 6 at Central Station.

But Howe is pleased to report that after almost exactly two hours, the train has left the station. Watch below.

Matt Wade, 41, was fed up after waiting 90 minutes for his train to Katoomba to leave the platform at Central Station.

Passengers on the 5.11pm service to Mount Victoria waited for 70 minutes before being told their train did not have a driver.

Then a voice over the intercom apologised, “I’m very sorry for the delays.”

“I’m not 100 per cent certain when the driver will arrive … I’ve just been told by the station staff that he is stuck on a train between Strathfield and Central.”

Glum commuters wait aboard a train parked at Chatswood Station. Credit: Steven Siewert

One passenger was overheard saying, “That’s the first time I’ve heard an apology”.

Twenty minutes later, the driver walked up the platform and Wade, a lawyer, sought his own answers.

He was told the train wasn’t going to leave for another 15 to 30 minutes and that when it did, it would travel at its slowest speed until at least Penrith.

Wade asked the driver how long it would take him to get home, he was told it would be hours.

Wade left his house this morning at 5.11am. He didn’t arrive at Central until 9.38am. Having already spent over four hours commuting today, he’s decided to just spend the night in Sydney.

“I’m going to use my Qantas points and book it now.”

Dozens of commuters hoping to skip the evening disruptions on the heavy rail lines were joining a long queue for the Parramatta River ferry service from Barangaroo to Sydney Olympic Park shortly before 6pm.

A long queue for the Paramatta River ferry from Barangaroo.Credit: Megan Gorrey

It was a similar story at the bus stops near Wynyard Station, with long lines snaking down the street.

Commuters wait for buses outside Wynyard Station in the city.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Steven Siewert is at Chatswood Station, where the platform is looking pretty packed with commuters.

His photograph also captures a screen in the background advertising jobs for train drivers...

Passengers wait at Chatswood station.Credit: Steven Siewert