An interim review into repeated failures across Sydney’s rail network lays much of the blame on a major shakeup of the rail timetable six years ago.
A new report has blamed a major change to the timetable in 2017 as one of the key reasons behind Sydney’s train woes.
The review commissioned by the state Labor government into repeated failures across Sydney’s rail network lays much of the blame on a major change to the rail timetable, and industrial action by workers last year delaying fixes. She ruled out a cut to train services or an increase to the maintenance budget by the government to resolve the problems. “We are operating in constrained financial times,” she said, adding that the maintenance blitz needed to be done without increasing staff levels.Opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward accused the new government of heaping blame on a rail timetable change six years ago to hide the fact it did not have a plan.
It warns that the performance of Sydney Trains’ rail infrastructure is “likely to worsen” under forecast maintenance activity, and that a major blitz to fix a growing backlog in defects is urgently needed. Sydney Trains chief executive Matt Longland said the City Circle line beneath the CBD, and inner parts of the rail network, were causing the most significant reliability problems.