Paige spent three hours getting to work. On Thursday, she isn’t even going to try

Paige Young arrived at work on Wednesday late and exhausted. She had spent three hours commuting from her home in Gordon to Mascot to drop her son Andrew at daycare and get to work in the city. On Thursday, she is likely to not work at all.

“It was such a hard morning, just waiting and waiting with my son and knowing how late we’ll be,” she said while waiting for a train home from Chatswood station.

Paige Young with her son at Chatswood Station.Credit: Clare Sibthorpe

“He kept asking, ‘Mum, when is the next train coming?’ ”

The Youngs had travelled from Gordon to Chatswood, switched to the metro to Central, then to Mascot for childcare. Paige then had to travel back to the city for work. “I’m considering not going to work tomorrow,” she said. “It almost doesn’t feel worth taking him into childcare. It’s hard.”

Young was among hundreds of thousands of frustrated commuters who struggled to move around Sydney on Wednesday as renewed industrial action by rail workers sharply reduced services across the network, triggering lengthy delays and nightmare journey times stretching to several hours.

As authorities warned the chaos would worsen into Thursday, fed-up commuters across the city queued outside transport hubs, lined crowded heavy rail platforms, squeezed onto packed trains and worked on their laptops as they waited for services that were slowed or scrapped on every train line.

Justin Chu was among many commuters forced to start their working day as they were attempting to get to the office. Credit: Kate Geraghty

Justin Chu intended to work from his North Sydney office on Wednesday. But when he arrived at Kogarah station to a dearth of city-bound train services, he whipped out his laptop and started working from a seat on platform one instead. That was at 8am. At 9am, he was still waiting.

“I was thinking a train would come in the next hour or so – I was probably far too optimistic,” Chu said. “I’m lucky because my boss and colleagues are really understanding. I can probably plod away here, and it’s OK.”

Chu didn’t think the NSW government’s pay offer to rail workers kept up with inflation, but admitted he was torn: “I feel like collateral damage because I live in [Premier] Chris Minns’ electorate, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all the trains in this area are cancelled.”

Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said the ongoing delays and cancellations had “devastating” ramifications for small businesses and those people who could not work from home.

Commuters faced long waits for trains on Wednesday due to delays and cancellations.Credit: Steven Siewert

“The people suffering the most are living in the west and the south because there’s no metro, and especially the essential workers – nurses, police officers, cleaners, truck drivers, paramedics, they can’t afford to live in the city so they have to live in the outer suburbs and rely on the heavy rail.”

Blue Mountains resident Victoria Buckley, 54, was one of them. She had to call her jewellery clients and cancel her appointments from the train. She spent most of her working day – more than six hours – in transit. “I’m exhausted and it was hot actually, it was uncomfortable.”

She left home at 8.30am and gave up at 11.30am. It took her until 3pm, including waiting more than an hour on the platform at Strathfield, to get home. She has cancelled appointments all week, including with clients who had planned to try on engagement and wedding rings.

Commuters faced sharply reduced services and packed trains. Credit: Steven Siewert

“I think they’re punishing Western Sydney quite badly,” she said. “A lot of people have other options like buses but in the Mountains you don’t have bus options.”

Cabinetmaker Isaac Sharp, 19, spent three hours and 30 minutes on a train on Wednesday morning. He spent another 40 minutes on a train going nowhere at Central Station in the afternoon. “It’s bullshit, obviously,” he said. “I’ve been here for 40 f---ing minutes already.” His driver’s licence is suspended until Friday.

Sharon Johnson said there were 18 morning cancellations on the T8 Southern and Airport Line. She described the cascading delays as “an absolute joke”.

“We can’t physically board the trains, they are so full it’s unsafe. The unions and government need to sort this out as a priority before a major safety issue happens. This is frankly dangerous.”

Passengers crowd the narrow platform at Epping where the Metro delivers them to the T9 Northern line. Credit: James Brickwood

Kogarah resident Binod Hamal, 37, was “definitely not happy” as he pondered driving to work and coughing up $50 for parking. “I need to get to the office. It’s very challenging and a bit depressing.”

Also in the city centre, Michael Willis, who runs a financial services team of about 20 staff, spent the morning arranging taxis and Ubers to get his workers into the office in Sydney’s CBD. One staff member had already spent two hours waiting for a train from Harris Park, near Parramatta, by 9am.

Willis compared the disruption to a “second COVID” that was keeping people away from the office, and said industrial action should not be able to go ahead without considering the toll on businesses.

“I need my team to be in the office, it’s a crucial time of year, and I feel responsible for getting them here in a safe and efficient manner,” Willis said. “I don’t think the union and government are aware of the downstream costs.”

Eternity Cafe employee Marilou Cortez said the eatery near Town Hall train station had served about half the customers it usually would.

“We usually get about 100 people in, we’ve had about 40, mostly for takeaways. All the shops here are the same. We’ve suffered.”

Nicolaou said many workers had decided to steer clear of the city’s core, and as a result many smaller businesses near train stations reporting a drop in trade.

“All the people who rely heavily on the rail system for commuting, and for foot traffic, are suffering. I spoke to business owners who said [Wednesday] was one of their worst days.”

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