NSW transport minister sorry for train chaos but no ticket refunds

NSW transport minister Andrew Constance apologises for the rail chaos of the last three days but won’t offer ticket refunds.

sydney faces another day of chaos on the trains. Picture: John Grainger.

NSW transport minister Andrew Constance has made an apology to thousands of Sydney commuters left stranded over the past 48 hours as lightning strikes and a spike in Sydney rail sick leave created a “perfect storm” that ground the city’s network to a halt.

Mr Constance called the chaotic outcome “enormously disappointing” this morning but refused to offer ticket refunds to those affected.

NSW transport minister Andrew Constance address train delays. Picture Nine News.

And Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins could not guarantee the same problems would not re-occur as workers return from their Christmas break and cope with a new rail timetable many say has been too hastily implemented.

Mr Constance said he had demanded a report, to be delivered within a fortnight, with “a focus in relation to staffing contingency around those major incidents, where staffing resources need to be applied across the network”.

He said Mr Collins would meet with union boss Alex Classons this afternoon “to listen to exactly what his solution is to the challenge” but the minister would not go as far as blaming staff taking sickies for having caused the problem.

“The reality is that, you know, people get sick,” he said. “We expect around 40 staff to be on leave (and) we saw 73 staff on leave yesterday, 70 the day before.”

Mr Collins said early indications today were that staff sick leave was likely to be back to regular levels.

Mr Constance warned union members against voting to go on protected industrial action later this week as part of their current campaign for a new enterprise agreement, saying that “commuters are only interested in getting home on time and that’s where we’ve got to be able to respond more quickly and recover more quickly in the network”.

“You know, it’s up to them if they want to go on strike (but) I’d hope they wouldn’t,” he said.

This morning, Sydney train commuters were again warned of “major delays” on the network.

Transport NSW tweeted on Wednesday morning: “MAJOR DELAYS ACROSS THE NETWORK due to staff availability & earlier incidents. Trains running at reduced frequency. Buses supplement some services. Listen to station announcements for the latest.”

Day Three: "We did have one train this morning, on a Twitter feed, which said it was cancelled because a member of staff wasn't available...today services are running well" - @HowieCollins - Rail boss. Some passengers were delayed by two hours yesterday. #sydneytrains #7News pic.twitter.com/S1TqhLSUb1

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) January 9, 2018

NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley labelled the situation as “shambolic”, saying he had been caught up in the chaos at Town Hall station on Tuesday night.

“Frankly it was a danger to public safety,” he told Network Seven on Wednesday. Mr Foley said the Berejiklian government needed to fix the transport chaos before spending $2.5 billion rebuilding two stadiums.

“This is the first week of the working year for many people. The premier needs to face up to the fact she’s got it wrong. Her priorities are wrong,” he said in a statement.

With AAP