By Matt O'Sullivan
The Berejiklian government has rejected calls for Sydney train passengers to receive fare refunds despite two days of chaos on the city's rail network.
While apologising to commuters for a "perfect storm" of events that led to major cancellations and delays, NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance ruled out refunds because he said revenue from fares was needed to pay staff and run services.
"It was a perfect storm the last two days – we are not hiding from the fact that it was a mess. We want to apologise for that," he said. "The trick to this now is getting this back on track as quickly as we can."
Services across the rail network improved significantly on Wednesday, compared with the previous two days.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance, left, and Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins address the media on Wednesday.Credit: Nick Moir
However, commuters travelling on the T2 Inner West, the T3 Bankstown and the T8 Airport and South lines experienced delays during the evening peak due to urgent track equipment repairs at Turrella in Sydney's south.
Three services on the T4 Eastern Suburbs Line were also cancelled late on Wednesday due to crewing issues, and there were delays on the T1 Northern Line.
To allay concerns about the rail network's ability to cope, Mr Constance has demanded a "quick-fire" report from NSW's top rail bureaucrats within the next fortnight on how it can better recover from major incidents.
The report's likely recommendations on how to better allocate resources and refine the new rail timetable, which Labor and the rail union have blamed for the chaotic scenes in recent days, will be made public.
Town Hall Station suffered serious levels of overcrowding during the evening peak on Tuesday. Credit: Louie Douvis
Asked whether the timetable was to blame, Mr Constance said a return to the old timetable was not possible because of an 11 per cent growth in train patronage within 12 months.
"We are expecting another 21 per cent [growth] in the next two years, so we had no choice but to introduce more services [as part of the timetable changes]," he said.
Commuters wait for train at Central Station in Sydney's CBD on Wednesday morning.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Mr Constance, who has had a fraught relationship with the unions, extended an olive branch to Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Alex Claassens on Wednesday.
"To Alex Claassens, we want you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said. "My door is open to Alex all the time."
Commuters were temporarily prevented from entering platforms at Town Hall Station on Tuesday evening.Credit: Louie Douvis
Earlier, Labor leader Luke Foley said train passengers should get a refund for Monday and Tuesday's travel because of the chaos, and the government needed to suspend the new rail timetable.
"This is a train service reminiscent of a Third World city, and this is because of a failure of the state government, the Liberals, to adequately resource train services," he said.
"There are not enough drivers; there are not enough trains. Clearly, the government went against its own expert advice on the new timetable."
Leaked documents have shown Sydney Trains had concerns that the new timetable would reduce the flexibility in the system to recover from delays caused by major incidents.
Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins said his advice to the Transport Minister before the new timetable was introduced on November 26 was that the rail operator was ready for it but "I did say that things would be tight".
"I was prepared to say we were ready to go [in November]," he said. "This new timetable is delivering the services we need."
Cancellations to services continued during the morning peak on Wednesday but were not as disruptive as they had been over the prior two days.
On Wednesday morning, eight services were cancelled on three lines due to "staff availability issues" or as a result of trains not being at their scheduled locations on the network due to the earlier delays.