Australia’s biggest city will be thrown into chaos from Friday with the train network to come to a halt as a dispute between the State Government and unions escalates.
Premier Chris Minns will today finally intervene in the crisis after his Transport Minister Jo Haylen was unable to avoid the planned action by rail workers.
There is hope Minns may be able to rescue the situation and ensure trains run this weekend.
But as it stands, there is still no resolution to the crisis – leaving workers and students stranded on Friday, and those travelling to weekend concerts and sporting events scrambling to find alternate plans.
All services across Sydney, as well as intercity services, will come to a complete stop from 4.15am on Friday until 6am Sunday.
Replacement services like buses and ferries are expected to be run for the over one million train users each day but compounding the issue, the Sydney Metro from Chatswood to Sydenham will be undergoing essential maintenance that has been confirmed to be going ahead.
The train network was originally to be shut down from Thursday, but services will now run before they stop on Friday morning.
That is some reprieve for thousands attending the Pearl Jam concert at Sydney Olympic Park on Thursday, but little comfort for those attending on Saturday or fans heading to the Sydney Derby between Sydney FC and the Wanderers.
“Sydney Trains met with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) for a second time at 5.30pm last night, and the union has agreed to run a regular train service on Thursday, including the planned 86 additional special event services to Olympic Park for the Pearl Jam concert,” a statement released by Transport for NSW on Wednesday said.
“At this stage the RTBU has not agreed to lift their industrial action they have planned for Friday through to Sunday, which means the notified bans in place by the union will bring the heavy rail network to a shutdown on Friday, Saturday and through until Sunday morning this weekend.”
The industrial action comes after Sydney Trains and the RTBU failed to reach an agreement on the union’s demand to run a 24-hour train service and receive a 32 per cent pay rise over four years.
The State Government has tabled an offer for rail workers that includes a wage increase of 9.5 per cent over three years, which the union has rejected.
Transport Minister Jo Haylen apologised to commuters.
“We’ve got to be very clear here that the actions are still in place for Friday and Saturday causing potential massive disruption to our network and meaning that people can’t get where they need to go,” Haylen said.
“The only way to keep our network running and to make sure people can get where they need to go is for the union to withdraw their industrial actions that are currently in place for Friday and Saturday and that remains our ask of the unions.”
Sydney Trains Chief Executive Matt Longland said a train timetable will be prepared as normal and hopes that is how the service will operate.
“We are planning a normal timetable on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a normal rail timetable across Sydney and that is what we hope will operate,” Longland said.
“If these bans remain in place the RTBU are saying that their members will not operate services on Friday or Saturday and into Sunday morning. That is not just train drivers, that’s people that work at stations… that’s people that keep the network running. So very significant consequences if these bans aren’t lifted for the operation of not only passenger services but also freight services around the rail network.
“We have put a proposal forward to continue to operate a 24-hour network through the weekend from Strathfield through the city to Hornsby that is still on the table, we are still able to operate that service should the RTBU accept that and remove these bans.”
RTBU NSW Secretary Toby Warnes said the blame of the shutdown lies entirely on the State Government’s refusal to meet the union’s demands.
“We are incredibly disappointed,” Warnes said.
“We anticipated a smoother bargain this round considering the one we had last time. I think that we have given the Labor government a real opportunity to come to the table and negotiate on proper wages and conditions.
“The reason we planned 24-hour public transport is we didn’t want to inconvenience commuters in Sydney, and it is really disappointing that the Labor Government has chosen instead to shut the network down seemingly just to make a point.”
Warnes said that if the government meets their demands the planned industrial action will not go ahead.
“We say that the government are the ones using the commuters as a bargaining chip,” Warnes said.
“It is only two or three extra services every hour between 1am and 4am that the government needs to do in order to avert any sort of industrial action taking place this weekend.”
Negotiations will continue in a bid to stop what will become one of the biggest rail disruptions in the state’s history.
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.