Here’s the really bad news for commuters: Sydney’s rail chaos could drag on until September

Sydney’s rail commuters are rightly furious. After enduring disruptions over many months late last year, some train services were delayed by up to nearly five hours on Wednesday due to the ramping up of industrial action by rail workers who have been in a pitched battle with the state Labor government since mid-2024.

Every day, it is becoming difficult to predict the impact of work bans and other actions. The delays and cancellations on Wednesday were largely due to the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) – one of six rail unions at loggerheads with the government – placing a ban on members locking and unlocking padlocks and equipment.

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

While a go-slow and other actions by the Rail Tram and Bus Union compounded the impact, the ETU’s locking ban prevented maintenance on pieces of machinery at Bondi Junction and Homebush stations which enables trains to be guided from one set of tracks to another.

That action had massive flow-on effects across the entire network as signallers were forced to manually change signals to allow trains to pass, leading to a bank up of trains and inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of people.

With little sign of a circuit breaker, Sydney is staring down the barrel of weeks – and possibly months – of disruptions to a rail network which moves about 1 million people each weekday.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen addresses the media on Wednesday.Credit: Steven Siewert

The government is now attempting to circumvent the unions by directly putting its offer of a 14 per cent pay increase over four years – plus a legislated 1 per cent rise in super – to 13,000 rail workers over the coming weeks.

Union officials have already indicated that they will formally reject it. Even if it is put to a vote of the highly unionised workforce at Sydney Trains and NSW Trains, union heavyweights believe it is very likely that members will knock it back.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen was resolute on Tuesday in declaring it as the government’s final pay offer, and warned she was considering “all of its legal options” to end the dispute.

While she did not elaborate on those options, rail workers began receiving emails from Sydney Trains late on Wednesday warning them they will not be entitled to any pay on a day on which they engage in partial work bans.

Rail Tram and Bus Union state secretary Toby Warnes.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

So far, the unions have shown no sign of backing away from their industrial campaign.

Worryingly for the government, advice to the unions is that the dispute cannot be forced into arbitration before the industrial umpire until September.

The latest chaos is happening during one of the quietest months on the rail system due to the summer holidays. The looming reopening of schools, and return of most people to work, sets up the city for widespread disruptions in several weeks.

Premier Chris Minns has an almighty fight on his hands as he returns from holidays on Thursday.

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