NSW Premier Chris Minns has urged Sydneysiders to leave work early to ease congestion at peak hour following the collapse of the city’s rail network.
The commuter chaos was caused by an electricity wire suspended above the tracks near Strathfield station being hit a passing train, triggering a power outage on Tuesday afternoon.
Repairs to the overhead wiring were completed on Wednesday morning, but officials said residual delays would be ongoing and that Wednesday afternoon’s peak hour would be severely affected.
Minns admitted residents and tourists were fed up with the regular train disruptions – and asked locals to think about leaving work early.
‘(Peoples’) patience has worn thin and I want them to know that the government has heard that message,’ Minns said.
‘If people managed to make it to work, we are asking them to consider leaving at an earlier hour in the day to avoid those peak periods,’ he said.
‘But I also don’t want to see scenes of hundreds or thousands of people waiting to get access to a train this afternoon, when the heavens have opened up and it’s incredibly difficult and potentially dangerous to get on public transport.’
He said commuters have been ‘let down’ and he would initiate a review into the Sydney train network.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has urged workers to leave the office early on Wednesday
The Sydney train network was thrown into disarray for more than 24 hours after an electric cable was hit by a train on Tuesday
Commuters queued in their thousands at stations across the city on Wednesday morning waiting for a trickle of replacement buses, themselves hampered by increased traffic on the roads.
The congested nature of the train service between Strathfield and Homebush caused the widespread carnage, Transport Minister John Graham said.
‘The fact that power has been restored and trains will start to move through the Strathfield area will allow us to get the network moving again,’ he told Nine’s Today.
‘But it won’t be till the PM peak that we’re anything close to timetable services.’
Crews worked through the night to fix the overhead wiring, made tougher by dark and rainy conditions with the high-voltage power lines nearby.
At one point on Tuesday afternoon, a 1500-volt power connector was sitting on top of the train carrying 300 passengers.
Minns said $1.5 billion a year was spent on rail infrastructure and maintenance so punters should expect a more reliable network.
‘This is nowhere near good enough, we’ve let the travelling public down,’ he said.
Hundreds of commuters were stuck at stations as the power was knocked out for hours` following the train’s collision with the overhead wire
‘I saw (media) today which was damning of the government, and it said it was a shame for Sydney – I have to agree.’
Transport for NSW said replacement buses were at full capacity trying to supplement for the lack of trains.
‘It’s not like flicking a switch and getting the timetable operating instantly,’ rail operations executive Jas Tumber said.
‘We have to go through a gradual build-up of matching crew and trains to provide the frequency of service that we need.’
The NSW government announced a fare-free day as compensation on Monday.
