delays hamper NSW network through 2022

The worst month for late trains was March, when an industrial dispute between the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and the state government resulted in thousands of services being cancelled. This was followed by July, when a combination of wet weather and ongoing industrial action affected services.

A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said: “Protected industrial action, extreme weather events and a backlog of maintenance issues have all disrupted services in 2022.

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“Extreme weather events in February,  July and October caused landslips and flooding damage in Sydney’s western, northern and southern suburbs, leading to temporary rail line closures, reduced services  and temporary speed restrictions imposed for safety reasons.

“Protected industrial action on the network – including work stoppages, bans on operating foreign-made rolling stock, bans on issuing and accepting transpositions, bans on altered working, bans on trains operating above certain speeds and bans on overtime – disrupted commuters in February, March, May, July, August, September and November.”

The disruption was reflected in Opal card patronage data: the monthly number of train trips fell from 20.4 million to 17.4 million between June and July, climbing back to 20.4 million by October.

“Despite numerous challenges, commuters have returned to the NSW rail network in 2022 with up to 886,500 commuter trips now happening on weekdays and up to 532,000 commuter trips on weekends,” the spokesperson said, adding that the department was now focused on “carrying out maintenance work, improving service reliability and reducing delays to commuters”.

“We want to assure everyone we will continue to work at improving our on-time running targets,” they said.

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