The New South Wales premier has called for an independent review as hundreds of thousands of Sydney commuters continue to face severe disruptions after a high-voltage wire collapsed on to a train on Tuesday afternoon, crippling the city’s rail network.
Disruptions were still widespread on Wednesday, as public transport users had to contend with delayed and cancelled train services for their second evening commute home in as many days.
Chris Minns urged workers to leave the office early or work from home entirely if possible to avoid the peak-hour period. Trains were yet to return to timetable frequencies, with commuters warned of 20-30 minute gaps in between services for the Wednesday evening peak period.
Minns warned government data provided to apps such as TripView was not reliable, and that travellers should brace for long waits. Transport officials were hoping the network would be in a position to return to timetabled operations by Thursday.
Minns also announced a fare-free day for Monday to compensate commuters who faced chaotic train platforms, long bus queues and Uber surge pricing as westbound trains were halted after the collapse at Strathfield that triggered a network-wide power outage, affecting all but one heavy rail line.
The state government apologised to commuters and said extensive repairs on overhead wiring at Homebush had been completed on Wednesday morning. It said services would gradually return to normal over the course of the day but passengers should expect “residual delays”.
The transport minister, John Graham, thanked commuters for their patience, adding: “We understand that their patience is wearing thin.”
Minns said the government was “on a very short leash” from commuters “who are demanding answers as to why they can’t get reliability on the public transport network”.
He said the government was considering a “short and sharp” review of Sydney trains.
“The consistency in the network is not there,” he said. “Punctuality is not there. We know that we have to turn it round.”
Minns told 2GB on Wednesday morning: “We’ve got to get better, this is nowhere near good enough, and it’s certainly not on par with international standards.
“I need an independent review into this. We are looking at bringing someone in from the airline sector … A fresh set of eyes that can look at three things: the maintenance program that we’ve undertaken, the punctuality of trains on the Sydney trains network, and also communication.”
Graham said the wiring involved in the incident had been checked as part of routine maintenance on 9 April, indicating a “major problem” had occurred since.
“Sydney Trains teams worked hard overnight in tough rainy conditions to remove a defective train and repair the overhead wiring that caused major disruption on the rail network yesterday,” Transport for NSW said. “The work was then inspected and certified, and the 1,500 volt power switched back on.
“We acknowledge how frustrating this has been for passengers and apologise for the disruption.”
The Sydney Metro was unaffected by the outage but was still overcrowded on Wednesday morning, with rail users looking for alternative ways to get to work.
Transport for NSW activated its agreement with Uber to protect customers from unreasonable surge pricing on Tuesday but the measure is understood to take effect only after the usual fare doubles.
